Fire & Ice
by KhaalidaNyx
Summary: (UP FOR ADOPTION!) What if Jack had a childhood friend who died in a fire when they were young, and he finds out MiM saved her? Join the Guardians and many others on an adventure to save Hope. Literally. UP FOR ADOPTION!
1. Chapter 1

**Hola! Como estas? This is my first Fanfic! Yay! Anyways, this is about a different spirit. Summary:**

**What if there was a spirit made right before Jack Frost? What if it was his childhood friend? **

**_**

The small girl ran through the forest, her bare feet lightly tapping the green grass under her. Her gray-green eyes were wide as she ran back towards the small town she lived in. Small pants escaped her lips as her skinny arms held the wooden bucket full of fresh water from the stream close to her.

Once reaching the town, she swerved right and ran to the two-story wooden hospital. She threw open the door and bolted past the empty waiting area, and up the rickety staircase.

"Oh, thank heavens," the doctor, Maria, said, taking the bucket from her shaking arms. She then lightly jogged to the side of the bed, where a woman was laying, her stomach inflated and her body coated in a sheen of sweat. "Okay, we've got some water for you to cool down, okay?" she said, dipping a freshly washed rag into the wooden bucket, wrung it out, then set it on her forehead. She turned to the small girl in the doorway. "Thank you, Hestia."

The small girl flashed the nurse a grin, tucking a stray piece of her long golden hair behind her ear. "Anything else?"

The woman on the bed screamed and the nurse grimaced. "Yes. Could you get James and Jack? Tell them the labor is going fine and they can come check on her in a couple of hours."

"Yes, Mrs. Maria." The small girl curtsied before running out of the room. For a seven-year old, she was unbelievably fast, and could beat all but two of the village kids in a race. Long distance or short.

She ran to the small cottage a few houses down, and urgently knocked on the door.

A small boy a few months older opened, his innocent hazel eyes wide and his shaggy chocolate brown hair falling just above his eyebrows. "What's wrong, Hekate?"

Not bothering to reprimand him on her name, she sucked in a deep breath. "I just came from the hospital-" his eyes widened dramatically "-and they said your mother will be fine. You may visit her in a few hours."

His face relaxed. "What a relief. What do you think it will be? Little brother or sister?"

She raised a fair golden eyebrow. "Depends, what do you think it will be?"

The boy grinned and leaned against the wooden doorframe. "A brother."

The girl grinned. "Okay, then I think it's going to be a girl."

"Why?"

"Easy. You have the worst luck in the _world_, so it must be the opposite of whatever you say."

"I am not unlucky!"

"Yes, you are."

"_No_, I'm not."

"_Yeah_, you are."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"N-!"

"Hello, Hestia!" a tall blurry man with short chocolate brown hair and dark blue eyes greeted with a smile.

A pleasant grin broke out onto the child's face. "Hello, Mr. Frost."

James chuckled. "We've been over this, Hesty. You're supposed to call me James."

She smiled sheepishly and scuffed her foot on the dirt. "Sorry, Mr. - er, James." She sent Jack a withering glare. "At least _someone_ gets my name right."

Jack held up his hands innocently, but the cheeky grin on his face and mischievous sparkle in his eyes gave him away. "Hey, your name is Hekate Hestia Aydan. It's not my fault if you don't like your first name."

Hekate stomped her foot childishly. "Jack! My name is _Hestia_! Say it with me. Hes-tee-uh. Hestia."

He grinned. "No, it's _Hekate_. Heck-ate."

She threw her arms up in the air in exasperation. "You're impossible, Jackson Overland Frost."

The man chuckled. "You guys have known each other for - what? - three years? And you still argue about this."

Hestia looked up at him with big, innocent eyes that were a mixture between green and gray. "That's just because we're both the only kids in our family. But that will change in a few hours when you go to see Mrs. Frost."

James' eyes widened frightfully. "Is Kara alright?"

The small girl nodded, causing a few of her long golden tresses to fall into her face. "Ms. Marie said it would be fine for you to visit her in a few hours, and everything is going smoothly."

The man breathed a sigh of relief and ran a hand over his face. "Thank goodness."

"It should be thank the guardians," Hestia piped up.

James laughed. "Of course. Sorry."

The boy standing in the doorway looked up at his father with large eyes. "Dad, can I play with Hekate-"

"My names Hestia!"

"-before we have to check up on mother?"

The man smiled, blue eyes twinkling. "Of course, Jack."

Said boy grinned and grabbed Hestia's wrist, yanking her away.

"Thank you, Mr. Frost!" Hestia called over her shoulder.

Jack dragged Hestia into the woods, his bare feet quickly beating the ground. Hestia was right next to him, although her running appeared more like dancing.

The two finally reached the clearing at a tie. The two children sat down and panted, before the brown haired boy leaned against a tree and the golden haired girl lay down, sprawled out in the grass.

Before them was a beautiful shimmering blue lake with a cliff side behind it. The lake was deep, and rumor said that no one had ever found the bottom before. In the winter, Jack and Hestia would skate across it. Jack would go barefoot but Hestia would wear thick boots.

"I'm going to take my younger sibling here," the hazel-eyed boy chirped.

Hestia looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Sure. That'd be great. When she can walk, that is."

The brown haired boy grinned. "Still think its going to be a girl?"

The murky eyed girl's eyes fluttered closed. "Of course."

The two friends talked for several minutes before heading back to the village.

||||||||||(Time Skip 6 years)||||||||||

Dry leaves crunched softly under pale bare feet. The girl's soft, ankle-length golden hair that was held tightly in a braid flowed after her. Her full, chapped lips were slightly parted as she ran through the forest. She was mentally thanking her mother for the new dress she made her. Sure, it was a little too tight in the bust then she would have liked, but it had sleeves that went just above her elbows and flared softly at her waist and went a few inches past her knees, which made it good for running.

A little girl's giggle sounded somewhere to her right, and she grinned and ran faster.

_"Sssh!"_ her best friend's voice was just ahead of her now. "You don't want her to find us, do you?" he scolded, although anyone would be able to detect the smile in his voice.

The golden haired murky, green eyed girl rounded a corner and came face-to-face with a boy with chocolate brown wind-swept hair and hazel eyes.

The small girl with similar features on his shoulders squeaked in surprise before laughing.

The golden haired girl laughed. "Liza's on my team now!"

"Lizzy," Jack corrected.

"No, _Elizabeth_!" the small girl on his shoulders protested.

The two teens burst into laughter.

"I can't have more than one nickname," the small girl continued, her hazel eyes wide. "Last week you called me Bethy, and Beth the week before that, and Liz the week before that, and Ab the week before that, and Lizabeth the week before that, and-"

"Okay!" the golden haired girl giggled. "You're just so much fun to give nicknames to."

The small brunet held her arms out to Hestia. "Girl team!"

Jack mock-pouted. "What, Lizzy. Don't want to be on my team?"

The little girl looked at him for a moment in what could be described as pity. "No," she deadpanned.

Hestia laughed at her friends expense and reached for the girl that was sitting atop his shoulders. "C'mon, Liz. We'll show this boy how its done."

"HEKATE!" a clearly annoyed voice ran through the area.

The golden haired girl sighed and dropped her arms, a soft frown tugging at her lips. "Coming!"

"HURRY UP! YOUR FATHER AND I HAVE TO GO TO THE MARKET, AND YOU NEED TO PREPARE SUPPER! YOU SHOULDN'T BE OUT IN THE WOODS AT DARK!"

The murky eyed girl sighed in exasperation. "But its not dark, mum!

"DON'T BACK TALK ME, YOUNG LADY! NOW GET YOUR REAR INSIDE AND PREPARE THE SOUP!"

Hestia looked at the wiry boy and his small sister before her. "Sorry." She grinned sheepishly. "Apparently mum thinks that it gets dark at six. We could still run for hours!"

Jack shrugged nonchalantly. "Our mother is probably worried sick about us, too. Don't worry, we can continue the game tomorrow."

"That's right." The fair haired girl rolled her murky eyes. "You have to set up campfire again, don't you?"

The boy grinned. "Every night."

Hestia put her hands on her hips. "How did you make those kids love you so much? It took me weeks, but you can tell jokes and they'll fall at your feet."

The boy smiled cheekily. "I've been doing it for three years. Elizabeth kind of helped me, though."

"HEKATE!" an unpleasant screech echoed through the dense forest.

Hestia frowned again. "Coming, mum!" She gave her best friend and his little sister a quick hug before taking off towards her small cottage.

Jack looked up at his sister, who was still perched on his shoulders. "Ready to go home?"

She nodded sadly. "Will Hesty be at the bonfire tonight?"

A wide smile spread across her brother's lips. "Of course. It's her hearth."

The boy made his way back to his house, a grin on his face all the while.

_

**Sorry, I know that this chapter wasn't very action-y, but I just wanted to introduce the characters and get a feel on what their personalities were. **

**Be warned: Character death in next chapter. Tears. Blood. Rather vivid descriptions. **

**Aydan means "fire" in Gaelic.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter. Yay! I just feel so bad because people have been amazing at updating their stories and I'm like "Wait . . . . . Wait for it . . . ." Comprende? It's horrible! Please forgive me!**

**Duh duh duh DISCLAIMERS!**

_

The golden haired girl hastily ran up to her cottage, and and tried to get the only door open. The house itself was made of thick wood, but the windows and door always took some time to pry open.

She rammed her body into it a few times, before it finally cracked open. She sighed. "Mum, the door's stuck again!

A woman in her mid-thirties with curly blond hair tucked pulled into a tight bun came around the corner. Her light brown eyes looked worn and tired.

"Hey, mum." The girl smiled sheepishly.

"Hello, Hekate," she replied stiffly. The brown eyed woman then grabbed the door handle from the other side. "Ready?"

The murky eyed girl nodded, shifting her feet to prepare to push against the old door.

The curly blond haired woman on the other side began counting. "Okay. One, two, three!"

Both tugged and pulled on the thick old door until it made a grinding noise and shifted about three inches in.

The brown eyes woman sighed. "Great, just what I need today. CHARLES! The door is stuck again!"

Through a crack, Hestia could see a man a little older than her mum come around the corner. He had light brown hair and murky eyes like hers, and the village woman often described him as "handsome." Her mother liked to go public places with him to show off that he was already taken.

The man flashed a crooked smile. "What's wrong, Charlotte?"

His wife huffed and pointed to the door.

He rubbed his hands together. "Alright, alright." He grabbed the door handle as his wife stepped back. His eyes connected with the blond girl's identical ones. "Ready? Go!"

She pushed while he pulled, and it eventually groaned open.

The blond walked in the house, her side a bit sore from pushing on the old door. "Da, I think we need to get a new door. Or oil the hinges or something. Same with the windows. They're terribly hard to open, especially this time of year."

The man chuckled and rubbed his daughter's head. "Maybe in the spring, kiddo. Right now it's too cold."

The girl sighed. "Fine. How long do you plan to be gone to the market?"

The brunet rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Not too long, Hes. Maybe two or three hours."

The girl nodded, a thoughtful look on her face. "So am I to make beef stew then?"

"No," her mother interjected. "It's almost winter. We want to save the meet from the cellar. Make the vegetable soup, would you? The one with mostly green's?"

"From aunty Ingna's book?"

Her mother nodded.

"Okay."

The brunet man helped his wife into her coat before flashing his daughter a smile. "We'll be back soon."

"Bye," Hestia said, grinning.

Her mother bent down and took her daughters smaller hands in her own. "I've shut the windows, and we'll close the door on the way out to keep it warm. Remember to hang the oil kettle back up after you use it, and don't use too much."

"Yes, mum."

"We'll try and hurry, because we've got a big day tomorrow. We have to till the garden again and pull up all the corn husks, then take care of the animals. You've got horses this time, alright Hekate?"

A large smile was spread across the girl's face and she flung her thin arms around her mom's neck and hugged her close. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Her mother laughed lightly and pried her daughters hands from her neck before giving her a light kiss on her cheek. "I've got to go. You're dad probably has the horses ready by now."

"Mum?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"May I go to the fire tonight?"

Her mom gave her a knowing look. "The one Jack will be at?"

"Yes . . . ?" she said, confused.

"Very well. As long as you don't stay up too late."

Her mother gave her one last hug before walking out the door and firmly shutting it behind her, blocking off the cold air.

Hestia walked to the kitchen, her bare feet lightly tapping the wooden floor beneath her. She went up to the wooden counter and used her hands to climb up. The golden haired girl grabbed metal pot from the top cupboard then softly jumped down. She walked through the family room, and to the wooden door at the end of the hall.

The murky eyed girl set the pot down and turned the knob before hitting her side against the door a few times, causing it to groan and creak open.

Grinning triumphantly, she pushed the door open the rest of the way, it's hinges protesting. When it was finally open, she went down the long wooden staircase, bucket in hand.

At the bottom there was a small well-like thing dug into the ground. It had a wooden trap door, and a small stream flowed under it. Unfortunately, it was very hard to open, and it took her several minutes to open the padlock and pry the old thing open. She dipped her pot in the cold water, filling it up halfway. Once that was done, she closed the trapdoor back up and made her way upstairs.

The cooking area was a little wooden room with a small pit dug out in the middle for the fire. Spare branches and twigs were already in place, so she just had to take the stick off the two that held it up, slip it through the pot's handle, and set the stick back where the two others split and made a V on each side. She then grabbed the kettle off the shelf and added some to the wood to help the fire.

The golden haired girl lit a match and tossed it in, making the wood erupt into a nice, hot fire.

She then noticed that she hadn't brought the vegetables up, so she spun on her heel, running towards the cellar. Faintly, the murky eyed girl heard a clang behind her, but decided to worry about it later.

She went back to the basement, mentally congratulating herself the whole way. Usually it took her at least an hour to prepare supper, but this time it only took her about thirty minutes.

Her blond hair flew after her as she ran down the winding staircase, and finally reached the bottom. She spent a few minutes inspecting the shelves, looking for the vegetable jar that her mother put on one of the many shelves.

When she finally found it, she faintly smelt something burning, and mentally sighed. A rat must have fallen into the fire again.

She trudged back up the stairs and closed the cellar door firmly behind her before turning around to go back to the cooking room.

What she saw made her gasp and drop the jar, shattering it with a loud, crack!

The house was on fire.

The beautiful, deadly colors of red and yellow danced along the ceiling, floors, and walls.

But how . . . ?

She gasped in shock. The kettle! She must have knocked it over when she turned to get the vegetables.

Tears came to her eyes as she realized the fire blocked off all exits.

The fair haired girl spun around to get the cellar door open, but jumped back in shock when she touched the handle and it was burning hot.

Hestia held her hand to her face and inspected it with wide eyes. It was an angry red color, and definitely tender.

The teen slid to the ground and choked on a sob.

"Please," she begged, unsure of who she was talking to. Her eyes were focused on the sliver of the moon that she could make out through the smoke. Tears streamed down her cheeks from the smoke and her fear. "Please. _Save me."_

She smiled bitterly and let out a humorless laugh. She was going to be killed by one of the things she loved most. How ironic. On snowy days Jack was out, running barefoot through the snow, while she curled up by the fire with a blanket wrapped around her. Fire fascinated her, and she thought that its colors and the way it moved was enhancing. Now she was going to be killed by it.

"Please . . ."

Sweat rolled down her face and back. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Hestia took one more pleading glance at the moon, before bright colors filled her vision, and she blacked out.

Jack laughed with the small kids in the village as he tickled and made silly faces at them. For some reason, the brunet boy loved seeing kids laugh. Probably as much as he loved snow, and that was saying something.

Most of the adults had gone to the market, and entrusted Jack with their small children. They had been doing this for a while now, though. About two years.

In the back of his mind, the hazel eyed boy couldn't help but feel like something was wrong, but he pushed it down.

Today was peaceful, with the last golden rays of sunlight flittering over the land, and a sliver of the moon was visible.

Jack suddenly felt someone tug on his old poncho, and he looked down to see the wide, innocent eyes of his sister.

"Where did Hessy go?" she asked, a small pout on her lips.

The brunet boy bit his bottom lip and looked around. No Hekate in sight. He shrugged helplessly. "Don't know, Lizzy. Maybe she had to stay home today." A mischievous smile made its way onto his lips. "Or . . . Maybe she got locked in a tower!" He scooped up the giggling girl beside him and spun her around.

The little brunet still looked confused.

Jack decided to give her hints so she'd figure it out. "Well, she _is_ pretty. And she has long blond princess hair . . ."

His sister's eyes widened and she gasped. "Did the Evil Queen take her?"

Jack opened his mouth to reply, but a voice cut him off.

"Time to go home, kids."

The brunet turned with his sister in his arms, to see both his parents standing by each other.

His mothers hazel eyes were bloodshot and her chocolate brown hair was falling out of the bun she secured it in.

His dad's dark blue eyes were also a little red.

What happened?

"James will take you home," she said, voice hoarse. "I need to talk with Jack and Elizabeth now."

The little kids awed, but scrambled after the blurry man anyway.

Kara but her lip and slowly walked over to her son, who was giving her a suspicious look. "Mom?"

Her eyes watered against her will and some tears traced down her cheeks.

The boy panicked and set his sister down, before grabbing his mom's hand and leading her to a log to sit down.

Jack rubbed his mom's back awkwardly while she continually sobbed into her hands.

A few minutes later, she couldn't cry anymore, so she was reduced to hiccups.

She hugged her son tightly and hurried her face in the crook of his neck. "I'm sorry, Jack. I'm _so_, so sorry. We didn't know! We got there too late . . ."

The brunet boy stiffened while his sister hugged her mom's legs.

"What do you mean, mommy?" her big hazel eyes were wide with confusion.

Silent tears made their way down her face again as she pulled back to look into her son's eyes. "Jack, Hestia's not coming anymore."

Confusion and panic shone in Jack's hazel eyes. "What do you mean?"

Kara took a deep breath. "Jack . . . There was a fire in Hestia's house-" his eyes widened at where the conversation was going "-and she didn't make it out. I'm sorry."

Jack sat there, stock still.

This had to be a dream. A bad dream. Hekate couldn't possibly be . . . She couldn't be . . .

"She's gone."


	3. Chapter 3

**Third chapter! Okay, just some insight on the story here.**

**You know how the Guardians have names that relate to their powers? North, Bunnymund, Tooth, Sandy, Jack Frost, blah, blah, blah. Well, Hestia is the Greek goddess of the hearth and fire, and Hekate is the goddess of magic (she also has a bit of a temper). Aydan means fire. **

**I'm going to switch between POVs so tell me if you like it better! It's going to start out as Hekate's POV. I might alternate between calling her Hekate, Hes, Hesty, Hessy, and Hestia. Just don't get confused!**

**Disclaimers!**

HEKATE'S POV

I blinked. Something bright was shining in my face and - Wait.

Who am I?

I opened my eyes to see a crescent moon in the sky. The last golden rays of sunlight were peeking through the tops of the mountains.

Oh. My names Hekate? Hekate what?

No answer.

Why isn't that Man in the Moon talking to me anymore?

I sat up and looked around me. I was under rubble from what looked like a building. Ashes were everywhere, but no one was in sight.

Did the building burn down? But where did all the people go?

I stood up and brushed myself off. I had a simple but soft and silky brown dress on. It had a tight corset tied around me with lace-up strings in the back. The sleeves went a few inches above my elbows and were tight, but not uncomfortably so. The dress flared out a but at my waist and reached my knees. Scorch marks were on the bottom of the dress, and it was uneven, like it had been burned off at the bottom. My right sleeve had that, too, and was a couple inches shorter than my left sleeve. My feet were bare, but that was okay. A black cloak was draped around my shoulders, and my arms were through two slits in the sides.

I walked around, looking for anyone that could tell me what was going on.

I walked up to a house that seemed familiar.

It was a small brown cottage, with a tall wooden door and a lot of windows. I knocked, but no one answered, so I just went in.

Two women, two men, a boy, and a little girl were in there. Both women were pretty, and one had brown hair while the other had blond. Both men had brown hair, and so did the boy and little girl.

Everyone was crying.

What was wrong?

I felt like I should say or do something.

"M-my p-p-poor baby!" the blond woman cried. "I-I c-couldn't e-even find her b-body!" She sobbed into her hands.

"My poor Hekate," the handsome brown haired man with a smaller build then the other said.

Hekate?

"My names Hekate!" I grinned. Were they talking about me?

They continued on like they didn't even hear me.

"I'm sorry," the blond woman whispered, looking at the boy. "It must be hard for you, Jack."

Do I know a Jack? It does seem familiar . . .

The boy kept staring at the floor, not even acknowledging the woman.

I huffed. "How rude!" I went to put a hand on his shoulder and ask him what was wrong, but my hand passed right through.

I gasped in horror and stepped back. "W-what . . . ?"

The people in the room kept talking, and I ran out the door. I needed to see something.

I walked into a building that seemed familiar and went through the rooms, looking at the peaceful forms of sleeping children and adults lying on cots.

Finally!

I picked up the pretty looking glass from off the desk and looked at what I looked like.

I had bright, cherry red hair that went a bit past my shoulders, smoky gray eyes that were framed by thick black lashes, pale, porcelain skin, full, pink lips, a small nose, and straight white teeth. I looked about sixteen or seventeen years old.

Had I always looked like this? It just didn't feel . . . Me.

I set the pretty looking glass down and walked out of the house.

Why can't anyone see me? Why do I pass right through people?

I stomped to the forest and angrily punched a tree. It caught on fire and I jumped back in surprise. "Wow."

Beautiful flames of the deepest shades of red to the purest shades of gold danced along the tree, making a black trail in its wake. The flames danced along the branches.

I giggled and danced through the forest. Every time I spun or pointed at a certain tree or bush, it would catch fire.

Soon a whole circle of trees around me were on fire. I jumped and spun in the air, gracefully landing back on my feet. I stood up on my toes, lifted one leg up, and spun in a circle. The flames went out.

I giggled, enjoying my newfound power.

Giddy, I skipped back to the village.

The sun was peeking over the mountaintops, creating beautiful streams of golden light. Had I really been in the forest that long? Small children were running around, talking about something called "Christmas" that was coming up in a few months.

A group of little girls were giggling with each other. Curiously, I walked up to them to listen.

"-can't see him." Like me? "Santa lives in the North Pole."

"Really?"

"Yup. He brings toys to kids if they're good. So what do you want for Christmas?"

I walked away, practically bouncing.

There was someone like me! Whoever this "Santa" person was, he was really famous. How do I get to the North Pole?

The children said its "up there" and "some place cold."

. . . Would the Man in the Moon help me?

I walked back to the woods, fiddling with my powers and seeing what I could do. I loved the heat, though. It was warm and comforting.

I made fiery shapes when I was bored. A lion, bird, snake, and many others.

I didn't know why, but using blue colored fire made me tired the fastest.

When I felt like I couldn't walk any longer, the moon shone from down in the sky.

"Help me," I said. "Please. I don't know what to do. I want to find 'Santa Clause'. I don't know how to get there. Please, help me."

No answer.

I sighed. This was going to be a very long night.

3RD PERSON POV

Jack sat cross-legged by the fireplace with a blank expression.

He had never really liked fire. It always seemed too deadly and hot to him. It was more of Hekate's thing. She described fire as a light in the darkness, warm, comforting.

Hekate . . .

A bitter smile made its way onto his face. Hekate loved fire, went to it for comfort, only to be killed by it. No one could find her body, but it was a pretty bad fire and it had been going for hours. Her body probably . . .

He desperately tried to shake himself out of those thoughts. Now was not the time to think about "what could have been. Think about what will be." A quote from Hekate.

Elizabeth, of course, was in despair. Once she finally grasped the situation, she left to her room and refused to come out.

The weirdest thing was, Jack thought he heard her earlier. When James was muttering in despair, he could have sworn he heard her voice say, "My name's Hekate!" He immediately shook the thought away. Nothing could bring her back now. She was gone.

He got up and left the room, trying to accept that fact.

She wasn't coming back.

**I need votes for pairings! **

**Options for Jack:**

**Your OC's name**

**Hekate**

**Tooth**

**Options for Bunnymund:**

**Hekate**

**Tooth**

**Your OC**

**Options for Hekate:**

**Jack**

**Bunnymund**

**Your OC**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four! MWA HA HA HA HA! I might add some translations in here when Hekate speaks in a different language. Sorry for taking forever to update! I have to write it on my laptop, then send it to my computer, then make a new file, and then update! **

**Warning: Time skips, mentions of failed powers, mild swearing on Hekate's part, switch in POVs, etc. **

**Takes place right after Pitch died and Jamie gives Jack a death hug.**

**Disclaimers!**

3RD PERSON POV

Hekate casually strolled through the pathetic little town, holding one of her favorite hunting knives in between her fingers. She had made it herself, and it was workmanship to behold.

The handle was at least four inches long, and had some Ancient Runes she had seen about two hundred years ago carved into the black metal. The blade was wickedly sharp, and at least nine inches of stainless silver.

The red haired girl had other weapons on her, of course. A smaller knife was strapped to the outside of her left ankle, two were strapped on one thigh on the outer sides, and a metal staff was strapped to her back.

Nobody could see her, of course, or else they would look twice just to make sure they were seeing correctly.

She had a tight black t-shirt on that had sleeves just past her shoulders, black jean shorts that went mid-thigh, a silver breastplate over her shirt, black boots that reached her knees and had random zippers and silver buckles and strapped all over, a chunky silver belt, and leather fingerless gloves. Her black cloak from MiM was on, with her arms through the slits on the sides.

Basically she looked like some random street fighter mixed with runaway Shakespearian that the cops would pull over just to make sure she didn't have anything dangerous.

Her cherry red hair that was a few inches past her shoulder blades was pulled into a high ponytail.

She flicked her side bangs out of her eyes and scanned the crowd of pathetic mortals. All day, every day, she heard them complain about not being able to go to a friend's house, or that they didn't get something they wanted at a store.

She could feel the temperature rise with her foul mood and forced herself to calm down. It would be rather suspicious if some mortals randomly fried like bacon in the streets on a snow day.

She put a slim finger on her bottom lip in contemplation while fingering the dagger with her other hand. She had heard the rumors about Jack Frost. Was he real? She knew for a fact that Sandman was, because of his dream sand that appeared every night.

Of all the rumors out there, she just _had_ to get filed into Greek Mythology.

Hekate was the immortal of fire! Not magic! Well . . . She could change her appearance between a five and twenty year old and make food appear. But that's it! Everything else has to do with fire!

"Never shoulda messed with those sculptures in Pompeii," she muttered to herself. "Now the idiotic mortals think I'm some kind of myth. And a myth from Greece!"

She stomped through the streets, the ice melting after her. Sometimes it would even evaporate.

She had one destination: Jamie's house.

Rumors fly fast. She had heard of this weird freak weather that had happened in the past few weeks. Giant black clouds, random flashes of light, snowing on supposedly sunny days, a kid that claimed the Guardians were protecting everything. Yadda, yadda, yadda. The point was: this kid believed in practically everything magical.

Maybe he could . . . Maybe for once in over 300 years she would get human interaction. Get someone who could see her.

She squashed her hopes down as soon as they came up. No need to get excited for something that hasn't happened yet.

"Jack," she heard a child say.

The smoky eyed girl froze in place.

Jack? Could that possibly mean . . .

The seventeen-looking immortal flicked her hood up to hide her bright hair, sheathed her knife, Tassos(3), and crept through the forest, mentally thanking herself for deciding to take the back road a few seconds ago so she wouldn't get so agitated with the human's petty complaints.

"Wow," she breathed.

The Big Four were there. Were right there.

Santa Clause, Sandman, Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy.

And a seventeen to eighteen year old boy with snow white hair, ice blue eyes, a ragged blue hoodie with frost on it, a gnarled staff in his hand, and brown pants.

Jack Frost . . .

The kids and the Guardians kept talking, and she strained her ears to get snippets of the conversation.

The children helped defeat Pitch? Impossible! She had heard rumors about Pitch, and she even slightly admired him. Okay, so she admired and envied anyone who could be seen or touched. So what?

They did a small ceremony and Jack took the vows to protect the children of the world. A scowl was etched onto her face.

She had heard that Jack was a free spirit - like her! She was never told he wanted to become a Guardian and get tied down to responsibilities!

Fine! He wanted to play that way? It was _on_! Welcome to the Dark Side, Jack. You are now against Hekate.

The Guardians climbed into the sleigh, and the cherry haired girl watched as Jack said something to the little brown haired boy - Jamie, she guessed - then climb into the sleigh and take off into the sky.

The four kids ran around with large grins on their faces and Hekate leaned against the tree.

The brown haired boy turned and look straight at her.

Tears pricked the back of her eyes.

Could he see her? Was he going to come over and ask who she was? Was he going to -

The boy turned away and started playing in the snow with his friends.

She made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat and kicked the tree. "Itu adalah kali terakhir saya mendapat harapan saya untuk apa-apa!(1)" She punched the tree and watched as the flames spread up it. "Persetan semua!"

She heard the terrified screams of the kids and mentally congratulated herself on making them scared.

Treacherous hot tears slid down her cheeks and melted the snow when they hit the ground.

"I was a fool," she said to herself, her English and Italian accent coming through.

She had been in Italy for a few months when she saw the news about the crazy boy. People were afraid the freak weather was going to affect them, but she knew what it was.

Thousands of miles for crushed hopes. Hey, what else is new?

With a firm snap of her fingers, the fire went out and the kids stared at the crispy tree in confusion.

"What was that?" a kid with glasses asked.

_I don't know, dumb ass,_ she thought sarcastically. _A snow-covered tree just randomly lit up like a candle before going out._

"I . . . Don't know," Jamie said, warily. "Maybe we should tell Jack."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. How would Frosty the Snowman help?

She threw her head back and let out a bitter laugh. How could she have been so stupid? Why would she think someone would eventually be able to see her? Heck, she would even take the Guardians right now!

The children shivered.

"Did you hear that?" a beefy girl asked.

"Yeah," Jamie said, looking around.

The cherry haired girl watched with amused eyes as the kids talked about what it could have been.

"Do you think it was Pitch?" a dark skinned boy asked.

"No," Jamie said. "It felt more . . ."

Ah, so he was the leader of the tiny group of vagabonds?

"More what, Jamie?" the kid with thick glasses asked.

Jamie looked around, like he was searching for someone, but his eyes skimmed over her every time.

"More lonely," Jamie summed up.

Hekate's temper skyrocketed and clumps of snow fell off the trees and melted into puddles before they even hit the ground. The ones around her evaporated.

The kids screamed in fear and the smoky eyed girl laughed as they scrambled around.

"JACK! HELP!" Jamie yelled.

The cherry haired girl chuckled slightly and shook her head in amusement. Doesn't he know that the Ice cube was far, far away? Heck, did the white haired boy even care about this child?"

"JAAAAAAAACK!" Jamie yelled as she lit up a tree.

Stupid, _stupid_ boy. When will be get it through his head that the Fabulous Five (the newly-dubbed name she put on them) wouldn't come? Why wouldn't he give up? He's just going to-

"Jamie!"

The cherry haired girl's jaw dropped as the winter spirit flew over to the terrified little boy. Not a second later, Tooth, Sandy, Bunnymund, and North landed in his sleigh.

Well, this didn't exactly go as planned.

1: That is the last time I get my hopes up for anything!

2: Damn it all!

3: Black Reaper

Hello, hello, hello! Remember to vote on pairings! Um . . . Should I even pair Bunnymund up with someone? Suggestions? Anyone? Anyone?

FYI Hekate was speaking in Malay and Italian.

Reviews please!


	5. Chapter 5

**Wow, I feel so accomplished. Thanks for commenting? Did you hear? Comments, not flames! Yes, there is a difference. **

**I'm going to start on another story soon. Leo Valdez. I love his character and I always hate how he never gets the girl. If you want your OC in it, just tell me the name and looks and I'll stick you in there. **

**Anyways, so far this is going to be a JackxOC pairing. More votes, more votes.**

**Thanks for the comments! Keep it up!**

**Disclaimers!**

Well, this didn't exactly go as planned.

As soon as the Guardians landed, Hekate made a mad dash for a non-crispy tree like a bat outa hell and hid behind it. Next she closed her eyes, and the flames went out.

"What happen?" a Russian voice asked. North.

"Are you kids okay?" a feminine voice was strong there. Definitely Tooth.

"We don't know," Jamie said. "We were just talking, then someone laughed."

"Someone?" a voice she didn't recognize asked. It sounded so familiar . . .

"Yeah," Jamie continued. "It sounded like a girl. Then a tree caught fire and the snow melted off the trees."

"Strange," Norh mused.

"Did you see anyone?" Tooth asked.

"No," Jamie admitted. "We couldn't see anyone, but it felt like someone was there."

"What do we do, mates?" Bunnymund asked.

"Was it Pitch?" Tooth asked.

Hekate snorted in amusement, then quickly clamped both of her hands down on her mouth. Luckily, no one seemed to notice.

"No," the teenage voice denied. Was it Jack? "Pitch is gone, remember? His Nightmares got to him."

"Then who did this?" Tooth asked.

"I say we investigate, no?" the ever-jolly voice of North said.

The cherry haired girl swore under her breath and pulled the pocket knife strapped to her right thigh out, gripping it tightly.

"What about the kids?" Tooth asked.

_Yes!_ Hekate thought. _Save the kids, and let me get away. They are important and shouldn't be in the woods alone._

"Why don't Tooth and Bunny stay with them, then Jack and I will find one that burned down the forest?" North suggested.

_Damn you Santa!_

"Sounds like a good plan," Jack agreed.

"I agree," Tooth said. "Bunny and I can hold off anyone if they try to hurt he kids."

The sound of footsteps pounding on the ground got closer and closer.

_Please, MiM!_ the gray eyed girl thought desperately. _If you known what's good for me, you'll lead them away!_

"Who are you?"

Hekate opened her smoky gray eyes and panicked.

Standing right in front of her was a man with a white beard and hair, smile lines around his eyes, and a red coat on.

_Thanks a lot, MiM,_ she thought sarcastically.

"Are you shy, girlie?" North asked, an eyebrow raised.

Hekate opened her mouth to talk but thought better of it. She made her eyes as wide as they could possibly go and pretended to cry.

North panicked. "No, no! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Ha! Puppy dog eyes never fails.

"North!" Jack called. "What are you doing over there?"

North turned his head to reply and the cherry haired girl smirked triumphantly. As soon as the Guardian looked away from her, she turned on her heel and ran in the opposite direction.

"I was just - hey!" North yelled. "The girl's getting away!"

Hekate's feet barely hit the ground as she wove her way through trees. Her heart pumped her warm blood through her body and she took deep breaths to calm herself down. If she didn't, she'd leave a trail of burning trees in her wake.

An ice cold hand grabbed her left wrist, and she came face-to-face with Jack Frost. Startled, she tripped, sending her knife flying out of her hand and implanting it into a line tree's roots.

"Ow . . ." she muttered. She was sprawled out on her stomach with her right arm stretched out, and her knees bent.

She could see pale bare feet out of the corner of her eye, and figured Jack was ready to attack her if needed, judging by the position they were in.

"Who are you?" the teenage boy demanded.

_Would he believe my innocent act?_ she thought.

"Who are you?" he repeated, albeit forcefully. "Did you set the forest on fire?"

_No, it was the Eater Bunny. _

She pushed herself into a sitting position, but Jack pressed his staff to her back when she tried to stand. "Don't move. And answer my questions."

She sighed. "My name is . . . Uh . . ." What's a good alias? "Hestia, and yes, I accidentally set the forest on fire."

"Hestia?" He sounded confused.

"Uh, yeah, and I really didn't mean to, so I'll just be going now -" she moved to get up, but Jack almost gently grabbed her wrist so she wouldn't get away. "Hey! Let me go!"

Several pairs of feet hitting the ground sounded through the forest and in seconds she was surrounded.

"Jack?" Jamie said. "What are you holding?

"You mean you can't see her?" Tooth asked.

"I can," the beefy girl said.

"Ditto," two kids said at the same time.

"Now I can," Jamie agreed.

"Let. Me. Go!" she demanded, her accents becoming more pronounced with each word.

"Your names Hestia?" Jack repeated, his brow furrowed, like he was trying to figure out a puzzle.

"Yes, Frosty the Snowman! Now let me go!"

Bunnymund laughed. "That's a good one."

Hestia looked at the Easter Bunny and narrowed her eyes, even though he couldn't see her face. "Yes, Ferret. Now go away. Some of us have lives to get to."

Bunnymund scowled and walked up to her. "What did you just say?"

"Go back to your petty lives and ignore me again! I've been alone for over 300 years, so lets keep it that way."

Tooth gasped. "300 years?"

"Yeah, that's kind of what I said, Parakeet, so forgive me if my social skills are a little low."

"How did we not see you?" Tooth asked, obviously confused.

"I live in the desert." She yanked her hand back and rubbed her cold wrist. "It's kind of barren there." Not a total lie, but not the truth either.

"Hestia . . ." Jack muttered again.

_Oh, no. I'm being held hostage by psychos!_

"What should we do with her?" Bunnymund asked.

She pulled her hood down and they stared at the cherry haired girl's features in shock.

"What?" she smirked. "Surprised?"

Jack was focusing intently on her face, like he couldn't remember something. The weather was mimicking his mood and thick, soft snowflakes fell from the dark clouds.

"Jack?" Tooth asked gently.

Jack snapped out of his trance. "Yeah?"

"What do you think we should do?" North asked.

Jack looked between her and the other Guardians. "I say . . ."

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"We take her with us."

Okay, remember to vote on pairings and read the top if you haven't already!

Disclaimers.

Thanks for commenting!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter, what, six? Yeah. Yay! It's going to be more of Jack\3rd person POV in this chapter, so you know what he's thinking. **

**REMEMBER TO REVIEW!**

**Oh, and I'm still working on the story with Leo Valdez. Here's what it's kind of about: Leo had a childhood friend (someone's OC) but lost them when his mom died and his aunt tossed him away like a sack of potatoes. So, give me your OC's names and looks please~ **

**Onto the chapter!**

**Disclaimers**

The white haired winter spirit was seriously starting to question his sanity.

He didn't know what possessed him to take the girl with them, but it just felt right. He felt like he should remember her. She looked so familiar . . .

Hestia. Where had he heard that name before?

"Are we there yet?" the cherry haired girl next to him whined.

They (Jack, Tooth, Sandy, North, Bunnymund, and Hestia) were all in Santa's sleigh.

Hestia had her arms folded across her chest, and a scowl was on her face. A deadly hunting knife was strapped to her thick silver belt, and several more were strapped to her legs. Jack thought she kind of looked like a biker, with the cut-off black jean shorts, weird boots with buckles and zippers all over it, and fingerless leather gloves. But she did have a black cloak on . . . Street punk mixed with medieval thief? And what was with the metal staff she kept twirling in her hands?

Her heart shaped face had a slight blush on it due to the cold and her ponytail was whipping around her face.

She could almost pass as normal, minus the strange hair and eye color though.

Wasn't he the same?

He himself had snow white hair and ice blue eyes.

Fire and ice.

Was that this girl's power? Fire? How did he and the other Guardians never hear of her before?

"Die, Ferret!" Hestia screeched, aiming her knife at Bunnymund.

Jack blinked in confusion. Apparently he spaced out.

The Bunny himself had his boomerang in hand with an angry expression. "_What_ did you just call me?"

"You heard me," she snarled. Flames reflected in here eyes, even though there was no fire. "Your weak banana won't do anything to me!"

"It's a boomerang," Bunnymund protested. "And its a lot thicker than your scrap of weak, rusty metal."

A horrified look came onto the cherry haired girls face. "What did you call Tassos?"

"You name your scraps?"

"It's an artificially crafted knife! And lets see how weak it is when I whip your furry ass with it!"

"Jack!" North said, trying to separate the two quarreling immortals and steer the reindeer at the same time. "Break them up!"

Panicking, Jack jumped up to restrain the fiery redhead.

. . . Only to jump back when she burned him.

"Ouch!" they said at the same time.

Her smoky gray eyes met his icy blue ones and for a second Jack felt his heart stop and breath catch in his throat. What was happening? Why was he feeling like this? Wh-

"YOU DUMB ASS!"

And the spell was broken.

"Don't you know my power is fire?! Why would you try to touch me when I'm pissed at Ferret Boy? My powers respond to my emotions, _idiota_!"

"You hurt me too, ya know!" Jack tried to defend himself. "And I wouldn't have had to try to touch you if you hadn't been arguing!"

"Oh, so this is _my_ fault?!"

"I didn't say that."

"Yes, you did!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"N-"

"We're here!" North interrupted.

Hestia sent him a withering glare before jumping off the sleigh and Jack was hit with the strangest sense of déjà vu.

Where had that happened before?

He knew what he had to do.

"Hey, Tooth?" Jack asked, turning to the motherly fairy.

"Yes, Jack?"

"Do you think I could have my capsule again? I need to check something."

**Sorry for the shortness. I posted a chapter earlier today, though. The one tomorrow will be longer! Promise!**

**1: Idiot**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapta Seven! What what? Okay, I'm never doing that again.**

**Hello, this is just a special thanks to all who reviewed! Some people were commenting on Jack's um "amazing" memory. Well, he lost his memos when he died, no? He had seen snippets of Hekate/Hestia in there, but that was it.**

**HA HA! There, I'm done explaining. **

**Special thanks to those who put their OC ideas for my story "childhood friend"**

**Disclaimers!**

Jack sat on a snow-tree branch in Burgess and fingered the tooth capsule in his hands. He had begged Tooth to give it to him earlier, and flew away to Burgess once Sandy had knocked Hestia out.

Now to figure out -

The capsule glowed gold, and Jack was sucked into the past.

_A pretty girl with pale skin and soft blond hair sat by an old fashioned fireplace, poking the embers with a metal rod. She looked to be about eight years old._

_"Sorry," she said, turning to face him. _

_Jack held back a gasp of shock. She looked like a younger version of Hestia, only with murky gray-green eyes and blond hair. "For ah, you know."_

_Jack raised an eyebrow. "For knocking another one of my teeth out?"_

_"Yeah . . ."_

_Jack waved her off. "Don't worry about it. At least I'll get a visit from the Toothfairy, right?"_

_Her eyes lit up. "You are so lucky! Now I'm kind of glad I pushed you into the tree!"_

_Jack chuckled. "Riiiiiiight. Anyways, thanks for apologizing, Hekate."_

_She pouted childishly. "My name's Hestia!"_

_Jack shook his head. "How many times do we have to go over this? Your name is Hekate Hestia Aylan."_

_"I like Hestia better."_

_"Why?"_

_"I-I just do, okay?"_

_"Gotcha."_

_The blond girl rolled her eyes. "You're impossible."_

_Jack smirked. "And that's why you love me."_

_Her face turned crimson. "Ew! I do not love you!"_

_"It was a figure of speech."_

_Her face turned even darker. "Oh."_

The image changed.

_Jack carried a small brunet in his arms as he jogged through the forest, barefoot. _

_"Hurry!" The small girl in his arms said. "Hessy's gonna catch us if we don't hide!"_

_Jack laughed. "Nah, I'm too fast for her."_

_The girl looked up at him with big hazel eyes and gave him a disbelieving look. "Uh huh. Hessy said tat befowe I was bowrn, you gwessed if I was gonna be a boy or a giwrl. And you gwessed wong!"_

_Jack laughed at how his sister pronounced her words. "That doesn't prove anything, Liz."_

_"Yes it does," she insisted. "Giwrls awre betta den boys."_

_"I'll prove you wrong, sis. Just watch."_

_"I wanna go onta Hessy's team!"_

_"Why? Don't you like your older brother."_

_"I wike you, but I wike Hessy betta."_

_"Thanks, sis."_

_"Yowr welcome."_

_Jack laughed again and weaved through the trees. He almost made it to the lake when a twelve-year old girl cut him off and wrenched Elizabeth from his arms._

_"Yay!" his sister cheered. "I towd Jackie dat giwrs were betta den boys, but he didn't bewieve me."_

_The golden haired girl spun the small child around. "Really?" _

_The little girl nodded earnestly. _

_The murky eyed girl put on a serious face and looked the little girl in the eye. "That's because all boys are dumb."_

_The smaller child nodded and looked at the older girl with an expression of praise._

_"Don't listen to her, Liz!" Jack grinned. "She's just turning you against me!"_

_The tiny brunet latched her arms around the blond's neck. "You wie Jackie! I wov Hessy an she wouldn't do dat!"_

_"Girl team!" Hekate cheered._

The image changed again.

_Jack was crouched on a tree branch, looking for something below him._

_A few seconds later the girl from before quietly walked past the tree next to him. Her long blond hair was pulled up into a bun with a few shorter hairs hanging down. Her murky eyes scanned the green forest before taking a tentative step forward._

_A mischievous grin spread across Jack's face._

_The girl took another soft step forward, her bare feet lightly tapping the forest ground under her._

_When she took another step Jack jumped down lightly and grabbed her shoulders. "Boo."_

_"AAAAH!" she shrieked, elbowing him in the stomach. _

_Jack bent over, gasping for breath. _

_"Oh my Guardians!" she gasped. "I'm so sorry, Jack."_

_Jack straightened up and started laughing._

_The golden haired girl narrowed her eyes at him. "Never mind. I'm not sorry."_

_Jack was breathing heavily now. "S-sorry Hekka."_

_She looked at him like he was insane. "'Hekka'?"_

_"My new nickname for you," he stated proudly._

_Hekate raised an eyebrow. "Mmmmm. Well -"_

_"HEKATE! TIME FOR SUPPER! TELL YOUR BOYFRIEND TO GO HOME!" _

_The voice of Hekate's father rang through the forest and Jack and Hekate both turned red in embarrassment. "Da! He's not my boyfriend!"_

_"WHATEVER YOU SAY, SWEETIE~!"_

_Hekate looked at Jack. "I've gotta go."_

_Jack chuckled. "I noticed."_

_Hekate put a hand on each of his shoulders, stood up of her toes, and kissed him on the cheek. "Bye."_

_She took off before Jack had time to react._

He was pulled out of the memory so quickly it knocked the wind out of him.

_That - that was . . ._

Jack held the capsule tightly before taking off into the sky.

NORTH POLE

The North Pole was in chaos.

The cherry haired girl had woken up only moments ago and was now in a shouting match with Bunnymund.

Elves ran around with their little hats on fire, and yetis hid behind crates of toys.

North, Sandy, and Tooth were trying (unsuccessfully) to get the two immortals to stop fighting.

"'Who needs _Easter_'?" Bunnymund repeated, a furious expression on his face.

"Oh, good," the smoky eyed girl said casually. "For a minute there, I was afraid you were deaf as well as stupid."

The pooka gripped his boomerangs tighter. Oh, how he wanted to use them . . .

"Seriously," she drawled. "Who needs a holiday where kids pick chocolate off the grass?"

Bunnymund narrowed his eyes. "Easter is important."

The girl put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. "Really? That's new. Did you know that in Asia, I've got more believers then you do? And that's saying something!" Another half-truth. She was talking about where she lived, because of the miles of barren wasteland, but he didn't need to know that.

Bunnymund was obviously trying to control his temper.

Just one more push outa do it . . .

"No one needs an Easter Bunny," she continued. "Your job isn't important. I on the other hand give fire to everyone. If I don't want someone to have fire, they'll freeze. Or starve. You need fire to live."

"You're just a redheaded little girl that's upset that she doesn't have people who believe in her."

Smoky gray eyes narrowed dangerously and she moistened her dry lips. "You may be big, Ferret, but I am a whole lot stronger than you."

"Oh, yeah?" Bunnymund challenged. "Prove it."

**REVIEWS, PLEASE! **

**Comments and suggestions are loved! **

**Special thanks to those who reviewed!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8! Ooh! Thank you all for reviewing! **

**P.S. I love suggestions, idea plots, if there's something wrong with my grammar, etc. **

**Okay, lets get on with the story!**

**Disclaimers!**

NORTH POLE

Jack walked into Santa's office and saw one of the strangest things in his life, which is saying a lot if you think about it.

Hestia was sitting on Bunnymund's shoulders and pulling on his ears while he tried to throw her off. North was holding the pooka's feet to the ground while Tooth was yanking on the cherry haired girl's waist, trying to pull her off of the poor bunny. Sandy? Well, he was asleep in the corner.

"Weak now, am I?!" she snarled.

"Crikey, sheila!" Bunnymund yelled. "Let me go! You're going to rip my ears off!"

"It's not like you need them!" she but back.

Jack watched it all play out with a bemused expression. Suddenly something started smelling like . . . Chicken?

"MIM!" Bunnymund yelled.

Hestia gracefully jumped off his shoulders and landed on her feet. Her hands were glowing red.

Bunnymund was hopping around, looking for something to cool his ears down.

Jack decided to help him out, so the white haired boy took his staff and pointed it at the pooka . . . Only to miss and freeze his whole body.

"Oops?" Jack said, sheepishly.

That's when the other occupants in the room took notice of him.

"Jack!"

"Jack!"

"Frosty the Snowman!"

Jack grinned triumphantly at Hestia. Or was it Hekate? "I know where I've seen you before!"

Said girl was looking at him like he'd lost his mind. "I have never met you before."

"What did you see, Jack?" Tooth asked.

The winter spirit pointed at the fiery girl. "She was my friend before I - well - um - became a Guardian."

"What?" North said, obviously still confused.

"Jack looked at his memories," Tooth explained. "And apparently Hestia was in there."

"Ha!" the cheery haired girl snapped, making them jump. Jack looked at her in confusion while she grinned triumphantly. "That's where you're all wrong. My name's Hekate, not Hestia."

Jack's smile only grew when he remembered what he said in the memories. "You're right." The Guardians (with the exception of our favorite frozen bunny, which they seemed to have forgotten at the moment) looked at him as if he was mad. Sandy even woke up and shot Jack an incredulous look. "Your name is Hekate Hestia Aylan."

**Sorry it's so short! I have to leave to Salt Lake in fifteen minutes and couldn't do more.**

**REMEMBER TO REVIEW!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9! Woo-hoo! Thank you for the reviews! Sorry Hekate is kind of irritable right now. Her social skills have hit an all time low because of not even being talked to for over 300 years. Hugs, anyone? Yeah, she gets annoyed easily. Hekate and Hestia were known in Greek Mythology as being level-headed and rational. Unless you pissed off Hekate. Then you were in for Hades. **

**Disclaimers!**

Hekate was knocked out on the couch . . . Again.

Once Sandy grasped that they could not have a civilized conversation with her in the room (or conscious), they agreed to knock the hot-headed girl out.

Jack sat by her, trying not to stare at her soft features. She looked so peaceful while sleeping. All the worry lines were gone from her face - not to mention she wasn't scowling or handing out death threats.

Her neon red hair was spread around her like a halo, and her smoky gray eyes were closes, making her thick black lashes brush against her lightly tanned cheek and -

Oh, no. He was staring again, wasn't he?

"-agreed?" North finished.

Everyone was looking at him expectantly.

"Uh . . . What?" he said, grinning sheepishly.

The de-thawed bunny stared at him incredulously. "No. No, no, no. This has to be a dream. Some terrible nightmare. Do _not_ tell me you've fallen in love with the demon next to you."

Jack felt his cheeks turn light purple. "Um, no?"

"No!" Bunny said. "This is terrible. Did you not see her a while ago, mate? She was trying to rip my ears off!"

"She's just lonely," Jack tried to defend her. "I know what it feels like. We just have to show her how to act and she'll be as good as new."

The Guardians stared at Jack with gobsmacked expressions. Sandy even had a golden question mark about his head.

Tooth gently flittered over to Jack. "You really care about her, don't you?"

Jack nodded. "I do. At least - I think I do. But why doesn't she remember me? We were friends for so long . . ."

The Guardians exchanged helpless looks.

"Jack . . ." the current bane of the Guardians muttered.

Curious eyes looked at the sleeping girl on the couch.

"Sorry for knocking another tooth out . . ." she muttered.

North raised an eyebrow at the winter spirit. "She knocked your teeth out?"

"Apparently."

The girl chose that moment to yawn and rub the sleep from her eyes. "Dannazione. . . Ho avuto la strana sogno i Guardiani. . . Tutto qui. Non più zucchero prima di dormire." Her almond shaped eyes fluttered open to reveal sleepy gray orbs. When her gaze landed on the white haired boy above her, she jumped. "Ah!"

Jack's eyes widened. "You okay there, hotshot?"

She glared at him. "Ha, ha, ha. Look at you coming up with clever nicknames, Human Popsicle."

The white haired spirit searched her face. "Do you really not remember me?"

The cherry haired girl pulled an unimpressed pace. "Well, I don't know. Because I've met so many people in the past, it's hard for me to remember."

Jack felt slightly crestfallen. ". . . Oh. I just - I thought you'd -" he abruptly cut himself off when he realized how desperate he sounded.

Hekate raised and eyebrow but didn't question his strange behavior. "Can I go home now?"

"Where exactly is home?" North asked gently.

Despite not liking the situation she was in, Hekate couldn't help but beam at North. The whole smile lit up her face and made the Guardians relax a bit. She looked so warm and inviting instead of dangerous. The cherry haired girl really did represent fire well. Fire could either be extremely deadly or comforting.

"Well," the gray eyed girl chirped, "I currently live in Asia. Nobody lives around me for miles, but that's okay with me!"

Jack saw the Guardians inconspicuously cut their eyes between him and the smiling girl next to him. He wasn't stupid, he knew what they were thinking. There were so many similarities between the spirit of winter and the spirit of fire.

"How would you like to stay at the North Pole?" the Guardian of Wonder asked.

A blank expression came across the girl's face, and Jack panicked. What if she said no? What if she wanted to stay out of their lives and go back to living alone?

Conflicting emotions reflected in her eyes, until she finally shrugged nonchalantly. "Eh, okay."

Bunnymund muttered under his breath and shook his head.

The winter spirit couldn't keep the growing smile off his face.

"But," she said, making everyone pause, "I don't want to be left alone with the Ferret." She pointed an accusing finger at Bunnymund. "One or possibly both of us will die if I'm left alone in the same room as that."

Santa looked concerned. "But what about tomorrow? It's Christmas!"

Tooth shrugged. "Why not ask Paytel?"

Bunnymund looked at the fairy in horror. "Her?"

Tooth nodded.

"Why - out of all people - why her?"

Tooth scowled. "Just because you don't like Paytel, it doesn't mean she isn't a good person."

Bunnymund looked at the Guardian of Memories as if she was crazy. "This is the same Paytel, right? Paytel Cottontail?"

"I for one think its a brilliant idea!" North boomed, joyfully.

Jack smiled evilly. "I agree. Hekate and Paytel will have so much fun together."

Sandy was silently laughing.

"Then it's decided!" North smiled. "We'll leave Heakte with Cottontail."

**You guys know about Peter Cottontail, right? Well, I changed his gender and name. Thanks to Jocelyn13 for the idea! **

**If you guys have any ideas or little mini plots I can add in here, please put them in!**

**REVIEWS ARE VERRY MUCH LOVED!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 **

**Thank you all SO much for reviewing & giving me suggestions.**

**Sorry for forgetting to put translations on! In the last chapter, Hekate\Hestia (whatever way you wanna swing there) was speaking in Italian. "Jeez . . . I had a strange dream the Guardians. . . That's it. No more sugar before bed."**

**This is the chapter where I'll introduce Paytel. Everyone should know the little rhyme. **

**Here comes Peter (now Paytel) Cottontail,**

**Hopping down the bunny trail,**

**Hippedy, hoppedy, Easter's on its way . . .**

**Yeah. Now do you remember? If you don't, just look it up on Google or something. **

**I'd like to apologize for making the chapters so short lately. I was flipping through them and making sure I didn't make too many mistakes, and I was thinking "WTF?! This is too short!" Hopefully this one will be longer.**

**Disclaimers!**

Bunnymund officially hated the little devil's spawn in the Pole. The girl was a child like Jack, but had an even shorter temper and a sharp tongue.

Sure, the annoying winter spirit liked to make sarcastic remarks, but that girl was just a nuisance.

It was painfully obvious that the two liked each other, but Bunnymund hoped that they wouldn't figure it out yet. Separately, those two were annoying - but together? He shuddered just thinking about the damage those two would cause.

Those thoughts swirled around in Bunnymund's head as he hopped down one of his tunnels.

He was going to kill North for what he was putting him through. Why did he have to be the one to get Paytel?

Sadly, the little nursery rhyme was right. Paytel did work with Bunny at one point. Until he fired her . . .

The Guardian of Hope popped up in the middle of Indonesia and looked around. Freshly cut green grass covered the hill and old, crumbling ruins of a city stood to his left.

It was actually a nice place despite the fact that there were no people within miles . . .

Bunnymund cautiously climbed out of the hole and looked around. It was eerily quiet. Too quiet for his liking.

The Easter Bunny cautiously hopped around the area, looking for any sign of life. His eyebrows scrunched together. Did he get the right place? Did Paytel move without their knowledge?

Something suddenly tightened around the Guardian's ankle and he found himself lifted up into the air.

"Ouch," he muttered once he got his bearings back. "Great. A rabbit trap."

"Actually," a snide voice with an Indian accent corrected, "it's a idiot trap. Looks like I caught the biggest prize."

A rabbit five feet tall with cream colored fur and white ears hopped into his line of vision.

"Tell me what you want before I gut you," she threatened.

Bunnymund swallowed nervously. "H-hey, Paytel."

She gripped an egg (he really didn't want to know what it could do) in her paw. "Don't 'hey Paytel' me. So not dodge the subject. What do you want?"

Bunnymund sighed in defeat. "Okay, the thing is, I kind of need a favor -"

"WHAT?!" Paytel shrieked, cutting him off. Her ears were pulled back in sign of defense. "You need a favor? Anda benar-benar idiot!(1)" she screamed in Indonesian.

"No!" Bunnymund quickly corrected, seeing his mistake. "North, Tooth, Sandy, and Jack -"

"The new Guardian?" she cut in.

"- sent me here to ask if you could watch some crazy sheila that is apparently Frostbite's long lost friend. She can't stay in North's workshop alone because she would probably blow the place up, and everyone else will be busy. Not to mention she hates me -"

"I'll do it."

Bunnymund thought he had started hearing things from being held upside down for so long. "Huh?"

"I'll do it, Bunnymund," she clarified.

"Why?" he asked skeptically.

She shrugged carelessly. "I think we might get along just fine, that's all."

Bunnymund closed his eyes in exasperation. "What have I gotten myself into?"

NORTH'S WORKSHOP

Hekate Hestia Aylan was currently asleep on the couch with one leg carelessly thrown over the top and her arm hanging off the side. The days events had finally caught up to her, and despite the little nap she had earlier, she was still out like a light.

"Tooth?" Jack asked, hesitantly.

The motherly fairy immediately turned her attention to the teen. "Yes, Jack?"

"I was wondering - um - could you - uh -" He took a deep breath. "Could you get Hekate's memories? I-I want her to remember, but . . ."

Tooth nodded in understanding. "I'll see what I can do."

Jack grinned boyishly. "Thanks."

**Dang, these chapters are short! Sorry, guys! **

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**If you have any plots or OC ideas, feel free to post them and I'll see what I can do.**

**Translations-**

**1: You are truly an idiot! **


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Okay, my attempts to make the chapters longer last time was EPIC FAILURE! This one is über short, too.**

**Sorry 'bout that guys. **

**By the way, I'm going to put an OC in this chapter. It's by someone called Dove (sorry that's all they put) but the character's name is Stella. Complements to them, by the way. I didn't know that anyone knew Stella was Italian for wishing star. I'm half Italian and half British, so if you have any names with those roots, it would be interesting to put in here.**

**Thank you so much for the reviews!**

**Disclaimers!**

"Do you _have_ to go?"

"Yes."

"Now?"

Jack sighed in exasperation. "Yes, now."

Her gray eyes were wide with confusion. "Why?"

Jack almost caved, but then he remembered the stunt she pulled a few minutes ago. Giving the elves silver platters towering with freshly baked cookies then setting them loose in the workshop was one of the most horrifying things the winter spirit had ever seen. How did she get the cookies? She made almond-shaped eyes as wide as possible and glossed them over with fake tears, turning them from a smoky gray color to a soft steel.

North didn't stand a chance.

Jack forced himself to look away. "Tooth will take you to Indonesia. Paytel is going to keep track of you."

The cherry haired girl stomped her foot in exasperation. "I don't want to!"

Jack audibly sighed. What happened to sweet, calm, passive Hekate? ". . . I guess I can stay for a few more minutes."

"YAY!"

_Is she bipolar? _

"So," Jack drawled out casually, "what do you what to do?"

Worst mistake of his life.

Ten minutes later the snowy haired winter spirit found himself sitting next to Hestia on North's newly deemed "time-out chair." He was reprimanding them for painting all the poor yetis pink. Jack couldn't say it wasn't funny, but the look North had given him had been absolutely terrifying.

"Got it?" North finished the end of his rant, and Jack was half asleep.

A soft snore next to him made his head snap to the side. Hestia was curled up gently under the couch, her lips parted and soft breaths escaping her lips.

_Traitor._

North immediately softened upon seeing the sleeping girl.

Jack's eye twitched in annoyance. How can somebody so evil have such innocent looks? Despite the fact that her hair was fiery red, she still looked like a child. A year or two younger than himself, maybe.

Just then Tooth came fluttering into the palace. Her face immediately broke out into a wide grin upon seeing the winter spirit and the Guardian of Wonder. "Hello, Jack, North. What are you guys still doing here? Don't you have work to do?"

He sighed. "Yeah, see you guys."

With that the Guardian of Fun flew out the door.

A small smile played on the Guardian of Memories' face as she looked at the sleeping girl on the couch. "What happened?"

North sighed. "That girl is almost worse than Jack."

Tooth stifled giggles and gently flew over to where the sleeping fire spirit lay. "Hekate." She shook the younger girl gently.

The immortal girl's eyes snapped open and she shot up. "I'm awake!"

North had an amused smile on his face while Tooth was downright laughing.

"C'mon," Tooth encouraged. "Lets go to Paytel's."

**X**

"Paytel!" Tooth called, her wide purple eyes scanning the grassy planes. "We're here!"

"Jeez, Tooth," an Indian accent sounded behind them, making both immortals jump and spin around. "No need to yell. I was coming."

Tooth's face broke out into a wide grin. "Paytel! It's been too long!"

Hekate estimated that Paytel stood about five feet tall, maybe an inch or two taller - a good four or five inches shorter than herself. She had caramel colored soft fur and white ears and spots. The bunny looked sort of pretty in her opinion.

Paytel switched her gaze to the redheaded teen by her old friend. She had choppy, cherry red hair that was let loose and went a couple inches below her shoulders and side bangs. Smoky gray eyes were the next most noticeable feature. They had a strange glint to them that made her want to trust her and keep a hand on her most valuable possessions at the same time. She had slightly tanned skin, but it was still pale. The girl was maybe sixteen or seventeen years old, and was fairly pretty for human standards. She wore a tight black t-shirt, short black jean shorts, fingerless leather gloves, a silver breastplate, black boots that had strange zippers and buckles all over, a chunky silver belt, and a black cloak. The strangest thing was the long, wickedly sharp hunting knife strapped to her belt, and smaller - but equally deadly looking - knives strapped to her legs.

"You must be Hekate," the old bringer of Easter stated simply, keeping her face blank.

Hekate's face lit up and a wide grin broke out onto her face. "Yup. I didn't really want to come here at first, but now I completely change my mind. This is gonna be awesome!"

Despite herself, Paytel cracked a small grin. "Gotcha. I hope you don't mind if we have company. I didn't realize I was going to babys - er, watch you until recently."

The girl waved her off. "No, problem." The teen then looked around, almost nervously. "It, uh, doesn't get too cold here, does it?"

Paytel scrunched her face up in confusion. "Why?"

"She's the spirit of fire," Tooth explained.

"Home and hearth, too," Hekate added.

"Like the Greek goddess Hestia," Paytel said, absent-mindedly.

A frustrated look suddenly came onto the young sprites face. "Ugh! I _knew_ I shouldn't have messed with the temples!"

Paytel looked at the girl quizzically, but wisely decided not to comment. "Hmmm. Oh. Well, in that case, no. It has had raining problems in the past, but that's it."

The girl's shoulders sagged in relief. "Good."

"My friend should be here in a few minutes," Paytel warned. "I hope you don't mind extra company."

Tooth nodded, taking that as her cue to leave. "Bye, Paytel!" she chirped before taking off into the sky.

Paytel looked back at the young sprite. "My friend is rather, uh, hormonal sometimes. She can be completely happy one minute and weeping the next."

The immortal teen just shrugged it off. "Okay. I can be the same way sometimes."

The rabbit grimaced. "No, I mean she is really, really mood swingish."

The girl focused her gray, almond shaped eyes on the rabbit. "Who is she?"

"Don't take it the wrong way. She's very kind, though," Paytel added for good measure. "Her name is Stella. Stella Luminoso. The Wishing Star."

**I LOVE REVIEWS!**

**Sorry for the short chapters, I know they suck. I promise the next one will be twice as long! I've got plans! **

**Remember to post a review and write about an OC that is:**

**A kid**

**Spirit**

**Evil person**

**I'll be sure to add them in!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Remember to put ideas for your OC's in! And if you have any ideas for the plots, that would be greatly appreciated.**

**Please review. Seriously, it gives peoples the warm and fuzzies if you do. Unless they're heartless. **

**Where was I? Oh, yeah.**

**OC, plot, certain character behavior, grammar, description, and spelling. **

**Thank you to lilleyabbey22 and Dove for their OC's!**

**Comment on what's crap, what's good, or if you have ideas.**

**Disclaimers!**

Hekate had to admit, she was quite impressed with the layout of the area.

Paytel Cottontail lead her to the ruins of the old city, talking all the way. Hekate would mostly just hum or nod in agreement - which she thought was strange. She had always been hyperactive and people couldn't normally get her to shut up. The cherry haired girl simply shrugged it off as being able to talk to people for the first time in over 300 years, so the initial shock had worn off and she was normal(ish) now.

The caramel colored rabbit dimly noted that the teen next to her didn't talk much. The girl had taken out the deadly dagger strapped to her belt and was twisting it expertly between her fingers.

The ex-Easter helper was beyond confused. Bunnymund had taken several extra minutes to explain in full length how the girl was a pranking menace, couldn't hold still, and would not shut up unless unconscious. However, the girl next to her hasn't said more than ten words the whole time they'd been walking.

Paytel lead Hekate deeper into the crumbling city and the immortal teen was inwardly having a fangirl moment. She had never been to this part of the world before, which sort of surprised her.

The gray eyed girl didn't didn't fly like Tooth or Jack, nor did she travel underground or have a sleigh to ride. The best explanation would be that she rode on hope. As long as someone had hope, she could hone in on their feelings and "flash" there. It drained her energy, but it was a faster method of travel, so it was kind of understandable why she hadn't been here before.

"You okay?"

Hekate jumped and her gray eyes refocused. She flashed the abnormally tall rabbit next to her a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Just lost in thought, I guess."

The rabbit tipped her head. "Your accent. It is British, no?"

"Yeah," the girl beamed. "English and Italian. I live there the most."

"Interesting," Paytel murmured.

They came to a stop a few miles into the old city, and Hekate hummed and nodded in approval.

"Now," the rabbit clapped her paws together, "my friend should be -"

"PAYTEL!" a voice squealed.

Hekate's eyes widened in alarm and she spun on her heel and instinctively raised her dagger.

Standing not fifteen feet away was the most beautiful person Hekate had ever seen.

She looked like she was in her early twenties, and had pale skin (not Jack pale, but still pretty light) that looked like it was glowing, silver waist long hair pulled into a loose bun with a few rogue curls hanging down that literally glittered, doe-like silver eyes, and full lips. She wore a old fashioned ball gown that was completely white and had silver designs on her sleeves. Her feet were adorned with gladiator silver sandals, and a silver tiara sat elegantly in her hair.

"Stella!" Paytel greeted happily.

The girl now identified as Stella came closer and looked like she was about to burst into tears. "I haven't seen you forever!" The beautiful woman gave the rabbit a tight hug before pulling back. Her expression completely changed to one of joy. "Oh my MiM. We have got to catch up on what I've missed!" After that, she talked too fast for either immortal to comprehend.

Hekate still wasn't sure if she should put her dagger down yet.

Stella then realized another person was there, and rounded on the poor cherry haired girl with a wide smile on her face. "Hello there! I'm Stella! Who're you?"

Hekate shuffled her feet uneasily. "Uh, Hekate -"

"Hekate?!" the silver haired woman cut her off. "Oh my MiM! That is such a pretty name! You're so pretty! Have you ever thought of doing modeling? Oh, wait, people can't see you!" She laughed awkwardly. "Ooh! We can have an immortal modeling session! How cool would that be?! You would definitely win, but we would need to find you more fashionable clothes." She eyed the girl's outfit. "Hmmmm. OOH! I have just the thing for you!" With that she grabbed the poor girl's arm and raced away.

Hekate's eyes widened dramatically and she began taking in rapid-fire Italian. "Lasciami andare, pazza! Si tratta di abusi sui minori(1)! Paytel! Help me! Lasciami andare! Sei fuori di testa? Stop! No! Io non sono la tua bambola Barbie personale(2)!"

Stella ignored her and dragged her into a crumbling building and down a series of corridors.

Paytel chuckled under her breath and shook her head. "I tried to warn her."

She hopped to where Stella, a.k.a. the North/Wishing Star had dragged the immortal teen. The caramel colored rabbit hummed idly to herself as she turned down another corridor.

"Here comes Paytel Cottontail,

"Hoppin down the bunny trail,

"Hippity, hoppity, Easters on its way,

"Bringin every girl and boy,

"A basket full of Easter joy,

"To make your Easter bright and -"

She stopped short and did a double take on the scene in front of her.

A teen stood in front of a woman in her twenties with her arms crossed under her chest.

Her cherry red hair was in two braids on each side of her head, and they curved a bit and went up. Her side bangs were curled so they sat across her forehead. A light blue spaghetti-strap sundress fell just above her knees, and lacy white socks that reached the middle of her shins. Black buckle shoes completed the look.

"I LOOK LIKE FREAKING WENDY!" the irritated teen shouted.

A confused look was painted onto Stella's face. "Who's 'Wendy'?"

"You haven't heard of her? The logo for a fast-food place?"

Stella shook her head helplessly.

Hekate gaped at her. "You've never seen a Wendy's sign?"

"A Wendy?" Stella said, still clearly mystified.

The cherry haired girl threw her arms up in exasperation. "Change me back!"

Stella pouted. "But you look so cute!"

"I LOOK RIDICULOUS!"

Stella huffed indignantly. "Fine, if you don't believe me, lets get a second opinion."

Hekate muttered curses under her breath in Italian.

"Madiline~," Stella half-sang. "Oh, Madi~!"

Hekate opened her mouth, but was cut off when a cheery giggle floated through the air.

Hekate instinctively reached for her knives, but her eyes widened in horror when she realized Stella made them disappear. "My knives!"

Just then a girl about twenty years old appeared in front of the trio.

She had golden blonde hair that fell in curls down to her waist, lightly tanned skin, and one silver eye and one gold eye. She wore a glittery purple and green mask, a sequin covered purple shirt, green short shorts, a green knee high boot on her left foot, a purple boot on her right leg, a elbow length green glove on her right arm, a purple glove on her left arm, and a green and purple swirled choker necklace. Golden stud earrings glittered in her ears.

Hekate couldn't see much of her facial features, but she had slightly pointed ears and an impish face.

The mystery girl gave a mock bow. "Madiline Imbroglione, at your service."

Hekate backed up slightly. The girl's last name meant 'trickster,' which didn't make her inclined to trust her.

Stella wrapped Madiline in a bear hug and started sobbing. "I haven't seen you f-forever."

Madiline patted the silver-haired woman's back awkwardly. "Um, you saw me last week."

"I-I know!"

"Oo-kay . . ."'

Hekate relaxed slightly. "So what are you?"

The woman's silver and gold eyes snapped to the cherry haired girl that she had never seen before. She gently pried Stella's arms off her and cocked her head to the side, examining the mystery teen. "What?"

Hekate put her hands on her hips. "Sorry. I mean, uh, what do you do?"

Paytel groaned. "Oh no . . ."

But the golden haired woman puffed out her chest in pride. "I'm a trickster, of course! I bring joy and -"

"Annoyance," Paytel cut in.

"-laughter to people!"

Hekate blinked owlishly at her. "Um, okay."

"What do you do?" Madi asked curiously. "And what's your name?"

"I'm Hekate," the cherry haired girl introduced, trying to pull her hair out of the ridiculous braids - without success. "I control fire and basically influence feelings."

Madiline cocked her head in interest. "How do you mean?"

"I can make a person feel happy, homesick, scared, whatever." She threw her hands up in exasperation. "Why won't my hair come out?!"

Madi looked at her sympathetically. "Did Stella do it?"

"NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!"

Madi gaped at her. "Did you just cuss at me?"

The teen ignored her and continued to curse in Italian while tugging on the braid.

A frown etched itself onto Madiline's face before a miscue ions smile lit up her features.

Paytel took a step back. "Uh, oh . . ."

This was not going to end well.

**Sorry it's sort of longer but not much! Gtg to Christmas Village bye!**

**1: Let me go, crazy woman! This is child abuse!**

**2: Let me go! Are you insane?! Stop! No! I am not your personal Barbie doll!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Authors notes (I know** **they suck, but bare with me):**

Oh my gosh, guys (er, and girls). So I was reading the comments earlier, and I totally went fangirl on my laptop and freaked my parents out. Seriously, I was squealing and jumping up and down like Christmas had come early.

Sadly, they're used to it.

ANYWAYS, I'd like to thank everyone a million times over who put their OC's in here. I get ridiculously happy whenever I see one of those.

Guess what? I have a beta for the story! DoveMusic. She is über awesome (as is lillyabbey22).

Ooh! Okay, a new OC is coming in soon. Her name is Haru, and she's the spirit of Fall. It's by someone named Luna.

Mmmm-kay, if Luna is reading this, tell me if this description is okay on Haru (I'm basing her off of Japanese origin since that's where her namesake comes from):

Name: Haru Meraviglie (spring wonders. It's Japanese and Italian)

Hair color/length: black with greenish hue, reaches mid-back

Eye color: orange

Skin tone: pale (but not as pale as Jack. Then again, no one is as pale as that boy)

Rank in beauty (1-10): 9

Age: 210 (looks 21)

Dress: red kimono with black, white, orange, and yellow flower designs. Sleeves that reach her wrists then hang down (like medieval princess sleeves. Or just look up a kimono)

Shoes: Senryou geta

Hairstyle: pulls the top half up and into a tight bun in the middle of her head with two chopsticks in it making an X

Makeup: light gray eyeshadow, mascara, black eyeliner, blush (its natural but it looks like she's wearing it)

Personality: kind, calm, extremely loyal

Friends: Stella, Elizabeth (Liz) Valentina Ungiornod'damore (a mouthful, huh? Last name means 'a day of love'. She'll be introduced later), Paytel, Madiline, Tooth, and Sandy

So . . . Whatcha think?

If you have anymore OC's give 'em to me! MWA HA HA HA HA!

Sorry . . . Little evil moment there . . .

Okay, again, special thanks to my new beta (DoveMusic) and everyone else who reviewed (especially lillyabbey22)!

I. Love. Reviews.

Never forget that!

Ciao, i miei fan bella ~!


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 13 (actually, lets include the Authors note as a chapter, so this is chapter 14)**

**Now Capitolo Quattordici!**

**Ehi, I'm going to put chapter titles in now, va bene? Tell me if you like it better. **

**Thank you for advice, by the way! I appreciate anything that can make my writing meglio~**

**Sorry for all the Italiano words. If you want translations, just tell me, sì? It's hard to tell the differenza sometimes, because I'm 1/2 British (or English, qualunque) and 1/2 Italiano. **

**Recensioni are amazing! Be sure to comment!**

**Ho intenzione di fare una pausa e parlare in italiano. Grazie fans! Ora ti amo! . . . Anche se non so esattamente chi sei. In ogni modo, un sacco di amore, Abigail. **

**F.Y.I., this is more of a side story, but is essential for the upcoming chapters. It takes place eight years before Hekate meets Jack and the other Guardians. There will be a lot of time skips**

**Capitolo Quattordici: La vita di Emily Deltos (The Life of Emily Deltos)**

Childhood is supposed to be easy. Fun. Loving. Full of happy memories.

The truth is, it all depends on what you make of a situation.

The life of Emily Deltos was easy at first.

Up until she was seven years old.

**X**

In the second level of the hospital, a beautiful woman with red hair had just given birth to a beautiful baby girl. She looked at the small child cradled in her arms with love in her bright blue eyes.

Her husband put a comforting hand on her shoulder. His gray eyes looked down at the little girl held delicately in his wife's arms. "What should we name her?"

The redheaded woman bit her lip softly while she thought. "Emily. For . . . For my sister."

Sarah Daltos née Dolore's only sibling had died a few months ago due to brain cancer. The doctors put the woman on Kemo for as long as they could, but they were just delaying the inevitable. Not many tears were shed that day, despite Emily's kind spirit. Sarah cried the most. Her parents had died in a plane crash a few years ago, so they were really all alone.

The redheaded woman's husband, Michael, nodded in agreement. "It fits perfectly."

The baby's eyes fluttered open to reveal the perfect pair of blue-gray eyes.

The woman gasped softly and her husband squeezed her shoulder softly. "She has our eyes."

The couple gazed happily at the baby, the little girl having them wrapped around her finger already.

Unbeknownst to everyone else in the room, a figure clad in black was leaning against the far wall, twirling a knife.

_"Interesting,"_ they muttered. "So _this_ is where the most hope resides."

**(TIME SKIP 3 YEARS)**

The brown haired man walked up the stairs, a small outfit in his arms.

He checked in each room he passed, face crinkling up in worry when the child he was looking for wasn't in any of the rooms.

"Emmy?" he called. "E~mmy~."

A cooing noise came from the bathroom a few doors down.

"Emmy?" he said, coming around the corner. He stopped short at the sight before him.

A short, cute, toddler was standing by the toilet. Her red hair was tied back in a complicated way, and her blue-gray eyes were wide and innocent. Her nightgown was stained by the food from breakfast that morning.

"What are you doing, Em?" he cooed.

The small girl held up a plastic fish the size of a quarter.

"What're you doing with that?" He walked over to the small girl and knelt down beside her.

"I wanna him to go home," she explained, a proud look in her eyes.

"What do you mean, baby girl?" He scanned the toy bucket next to her, seeing most of the toy fish gone.

"He wan ta go his family," she explained, dropping him in the toilet.

"What?" Michael asked.

The girl sighed. "He wans to go home wif Goldie."

Understanding dawned on the man's features. "Your goldfish?"

"Yeah, he swam home tru da potty, and dey wan ta go home wif him." She pressed the handle on the toilet and watched as the water swirled down, taking the little plastic fish with it.

The man suppressed a smile. "They do, do they?"

"Yeah," the child agreed, fishing through the bucket for another plastic amphibian.

"Em," he sighed, "those are just toys."

The little girl paused and looked at her dad with disbelief reflecting clear in her eyes. "_No_, in Toy Stowy dey move an tawk."

The man sighed.

His daughter was very observant, but believed in practically everything. And when she asked why they were flushing her goldfish down the toilet, both parents had to improvise and they decided to tell her that the fish wanted to go home. Combine that with Toy Story and you've got . . .

"Lets get dressed," he said, deciding to change the subject. "Then I can tell you another story."

The small girl beamed. "Oh-tay!" She snatched the clothes from his hands and dashed out of the room.

Michael chuckled softly and ran a hand through his brown hair.

While the small girl got dressed, he started picking up her scattered toys.

A few minutes later the small girl was cuddled up on the couch next to her dad. The fireplace was burning to heat the house and keep it warm from the cold December air.

"Okay," the gray eyed man said. "What story do you want to hear?"

"Da one about da spiwits."

The man grinned. "Okay, okay. One day -"

_"No!"_ she shouted in horror, eyes wide.

"What?" he asked in obvious confusion.

Her voice dropped to a whisper, as if she was telling a secret. "You didn't start it out with 'Once upon a time' . . ."

He tried to keep a straight face and nodded seriously. "Sorry. Once upon a time, there were many spirits. They were people just like you and me before the Man in the Moon chose them."

"Really?"

"Yep. There was the spirit of winter named Jack Frost, the spirit of wonder called Santa clause, the spirit of memories called the Tooth Fairy, the spirit of dreams called Sandman, the spirit of hope called the Easter bunny, the spirit of fall called Haru, the spirit of laughter called Madi, the spirit of wishes or the North Star, and many others."

"Was dere a spiwit of fiwre?" the girl asked.

"Er . . . I'm not sure," he admitted.

"It's oh-tay."

"Now, it was the spirits' jobs to protect all the kids in the world, so -"

"I'm ho~ome~!" a melodic voice rang through the house.

The man got up and the child pouted. "You can't stowp! We juwst stawted!"

He chuckled and ruffled the small redhead's hair. "We'll finish it later, okay?"

The child looked at her father skeptically. "Pwomise?"

"Promise."

The girl beamed and jumped off the couch, racing past her father and into her mother's awaiting arms.

The family didn't see a small, eight-year old girl poking the coals in the fireplace with a long metal rod.

She closed her eyes and sighed. "A happy family. So much hope fills this home. All good things must come to an end, though. Sarò sempre vegliare su di te, Emily(1)."

With a flash the girl disappeared, leaving the faint crackling of the fireplace that burned a little brighter in her wake.

**(TIME SKIP 4 YEARS)**

A nimble girl danced around the room.

Her long red hair was tied into a tight bun with her side bangs pinned back by a bobby pin on the right side and short black shorts were on her hips. A black tank top adorned her torso.

She swayed to the music coming from the speakers of her CD player, leaping and bending expertly.

"Emily!" a woman's voice called.

The girl abruptly stopped dancing and pressed the pause button on her music player. "Yes, mum?"

"Time to go, sweetie!"

The girl snatched her white hoodie off of one of the chairs in the room and slipped it over her head before grabbing her black tennis shoes. She quickly laced them up, grabbed her black backpack that contained her dance shoes and extra clothes off of the floor, then raced outside and carefully treaded across the icy ground.

A lone figure watched with sad eyes as the small girl climbed into the car with her parents. She looked so different from the cherry haired fighter she normally was.

"And so it begins," she whispered. "I promised that I would protect you, ragazza(2). I did not mean your parents."

The Deltos family sped down the icy road in their car. The heat was up to keep them warm from the chilly January air. They were on their way to Emily's dance recital for New Year's Eve.

As the red car rounded a corner, the tires lost grip on the ice and they sped off the road.

The car rolled down the hill roughly, smashing into trees and making some parts fall came to rest at the base of an oak tree.

Emily whimpered and peeled her forehead off the headrest of her mom's seat. "Mommy? Dad?"She gasped in horror at the sight in front of her.

Her parents were staring lifelessly ahead of them while blood dribbled down from their lips. Her mother's beautiful red hair was stained crimson, along with her white blouse. Her fathers face was slightly disfigured, and his neck was bent at a strange angle. Their fingers were intertwined with one another's.

"No!" she screamed. "Mum! Dad! Wake up! It isn't funny! Get up! Please! I'm scared!"She sobbed and tried to ram the door open.

When it finally opened up, she fell onto the grass and continued to cry.

"No! You can't be dead, you just can't!" she sobbed helplessly.

The strangest sense of calm washed over her, telling her she wasn't alone.

When she looked up, she could have sworn she saw a girl in black with cherry red hair step behind one of the trees.

**xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx **

**Sad, huh? That is an OC, peoples. The story will continue later, but tell me whatcha think of it. **

**I might do another background on an OC.**

**Possibly Madi, then Stella. Hmmmmm, Paytel would work too. I could tell you why she got fired. Then I could do one on Lavette Crealis (a new OC)**

**REVIEWS, PLEASE!**

**Translations-**

**1: I will always watch over you, Emily**

**2: girl**


	15. Chapter 15

Author's note aka chapter 15

I have all the characters I need for now. They are:

Halloween by Hetalia's state of Kansas

Chelsea "Chelly" Erin Clark by ChellyErinClark

Sweet Tooth by Guest

Scrouge by Gingerly

Lavette Crealis by mizuokami

Emily Deltos by Guest

Haru by Luna

Elizabeth by Toner of ShadoWs

Stella by DoveMusic

May Muerte by lillyabbey22

Chester Comoedia by lillyabbey22

Samson Ghrianstad by lillyabbey22

Paytel Cottontail by AbigailPaine

Hekate by AbigailPaine

Thank you~!


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**The last chapter was rather depressing, ne? **

**Thank you peoples so much for your OC's~! It's like an OC heaven here.**

**Um . . . Can I get some guy OC's? 'Cause the girl number smoshes the boy one like a pancake.**

**Yuuuuuum . . .**

**Sorry! Off topic here. Where was I? Oh, yes.**

**I NEED BOY/GUY OC's~~! Like, two of 'em.**

**Grazie!**

**Disclaimers!**

_Breath in. And out. And in. And out._

Emily repeated the phrase over and over in her head while she lay on the small white bed in the hospital.

An oxygen mask covered her nose and mouth, while tubes were injecting different liquids into her wrists.

She closed her eyes and mulled over the events that happened not six hours ago.

Her mom and dad are dead. Check.

She apparently had a large cut by the her left eye running to her jaw. Check.

The police found her because a mystery person shot a flame up into the air and alerted people within a ten mile radius. Check.

She saw the mysterious girl with unnaturally red hair go behind a tree. Check.

She quietly took a raspy breath and sighed.

Happy New Year.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as the days events caught up to her. The redhead's heart monitor picked up, but she didn't care.

Without warning a sudden calm washed over her, making her tears stop and she unconsciously snuggled deeper into the covers. A feeling like sitting by a warm fire with her parents covered her.

"Thank you," she whispered, closing her eyes.

It felt as though a warm hand brushed lightly against her cheek. "Il tuo benvenuto(1)."

The voice was so comforting, she found herself drifting peacefully off to sleep. The voice was obviously female, but sounded young. Maybe a year or so younger than her. Although, it sounded as of the person talking was standing in the bottom of a well.

"Sleep, young one," the voice continued. "I shall watch over you. Nothing shall harm you whilst I am here."

Emily sighed contently and drifted off to sleep.

**xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx **

Emily sighed in a mixture of exasperation and relief.

After four caseworkers, two layers, and a whole few counselors, she had finally arrived at the orphanage. If she had to hear "So tell me how you feel," or "What's going on in your mind right now?" she might just kill someone.

The mysterious presence felt like it was behind her, but she wondered why she couldn't see the girl.

"Oh! You must be Emily!"

A heavy woman that was dressed like a nun - much to Emily's shock - happily bounded down the steps of the orphanage and picked the young girl up in a bone-crushing hug.

The unidentified woman started talking almost too fast for the redhead to follow. "Welcome! I just know you'll love it here at Ukoman Orphanage! The kids are all adorable little angels that will be more than willing to share and all of them will welcome you with open arms - as well as the staff! I know this is a very tragic time for you but if you work with us we'll be able to pull through!"

With every word the seven year old found herself getting more and more annoyed. All the redheaded girl wanted to do was go inside and curl up in a corner.

Suddenly the woman holding her in a death grip jumped back as if she'd been burned, effectively cutting off her rambling. "Ouch!"

The gray and blue eyed girl gave the older woman a curious look.

The caretaker of the orphanage was examining the back of her arm, as if she was checking for any marks. "How peculiar . . . I could have sworn . . ."

Something sounding suspiciously like a child's laughter sounded behind the petite redhead, and she but back a grin. It seemed that her invisible friend had saved her. She didn't know how, but it was amusing to watch the woman in front of her scan her arm, her face pinched together in confusion.

When the chubby woman was done trying to find injuries on herself, she lead Emily into the orphanage and pointed out all the different rooms.

"Curfew is at nine," she told the small redhead in a bubbly voice. "Breakfast is from seven to ten, lunch is from twelve to two, and dinner is from five to seven."

The blue and gray eyed girl listened with half an ear as she was lead through the huge building. The seven year old girl was mainly focused on the quiet voice behind her, still sounding as if the girl was talking from the other end of a tunnel.

"Stupid, overly bubbly . . . Can't you see the girl just wants to sleep? . . . Sono contento che non c'erano orfanotrofi quando ero vivo. Questo è solo fastidioso(2)."

The small girl didn't know what the last part meant, but she found it amusing that the ghost - maybe? - behind her was switching languages and to complain about the woman in front of her, especially since she sounded so young.

A small, content smile tugged at the small girl's lips.

Maybe it won't be so bad here after all . . .

**xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx**

**(2 YEARS LATER)**

The nine year old girl slowly backed into a corner.

_Not again . . ._

It had started out like any normal day. She got up and ran a brush through her long red hair and put it into loose pigtails, got dressed in dark loose jeans and a black t-shirt, then settled into the library to read and be left alone. The new problem? Quintis - the orphanage's biggest idiot/bully of the year decided to make her a target because of the rumors floating around. Rumors that said when anyone tried to be mean or hit her, they would get burned. Someone even ended up in the hospital.

She never confirmed the rumors, although they were true. Her 'Guardian Angel' always kept the bully's at bay and comforted her. The gray and blue eyed girl just wished she could see who was helping her.

Quintis apparently had this brilliant idea to corner her and see if everything being said was true.

Quintis was a ten year old boy with short brown hair, dark eyes, tan skin, and was at least a head taller than the current girl he was cornering - if not more. Two of his friends were on either side of him, stupid smirks on their faces.

"Is it true?" he demanded.

Her eyebrows knit together in pretend confusion. It wasn't herself she was worried about. It was the boy.

"Don't play dumb with me," he growled. "Ghosts aren't real. How do you do it? A taser? Matches?"

She resisted to roll her unique eyes at the boy's stupidity. A match? Really? And where would she get a taser from?

"Ghosts are real," she confirmed. "And so are spirits. Jack Frost, Tooth Fairy, Santa Clause, the East -"

He doubled over laughing while his friends were looking back and forth between her and their leader, like they were wondering who was more sane.

_"Boys,"_ the girl's echoey voice scoffed. It sounded like she had aged at least two years, same as her. "Don't worry about them, giovane(3). They will only get what they deserve."

That didn't exactly reassure her.

When Quintis' annoying laughter finally stopped, he roughly grabbed the small redhead up by the front of her black t-shirt so she met his eye level.

"This is what you get for making up stupid rumors," he snarled. One of his hands let her shirt go and curled into a fist.

Her blue and gray eyes widened in alarm. "Stop! You'll only get hurt!"

He scoffed. "Nice try to save your skin." The brunet boy's fist came straight to her face, but before it made contact, he jumped back in surprise.

"What the heck?!" he demanded, scanning his left hand.

An angry red mark was there in the shape of slim fingers and the redheaded girl mentally cringed. Her Guardian Angel was _pissed_.

The echoey laughter seemed to ring throughout the library, but only reach Emily's ears. It wasn't the usual happy, childish laughter. It was more dark and sadistic.

"Si potrebbe desiderare di avere un infermiere(4). This is going to hurt."

Quintis' agonized screams rang throughout the orphanage. His 'friends' had run off when the first marking had branded itself onto his cheek.

When the caretakers ran upstairs, they found a dark haired boy crying on the ground and a small redheaded girl calmly reading at a table.

"What happened?" a pretty blond woman demanded. Her azure eyes were filled with worry.

The nine year old child looked up from her thick novel and grinned when she saw who it was. "Hi, Poppy!"

The woman flicked her bangs out of her eyes and knelt beside the crying boy. She gasped at the site.

A burn in the shape of a crescent moon sat on his left cheek, and on the boy's right forearm it read: ThOuGhts LeAd tO WorDs, woRds lEAd to ACtionS, actIOns LeaD To chOICes, ChoicEs aRe WhO wE BeCOme

The strangest thing was it looked as if a small child had written it with the tip of their finger.

"W-who did this?" Poppy stuttered, her azure eyes frightful.

This was the fifth time this year something like that had happened. Same markings, same places. And it always happened when someone was about to do something to hurt Emily physically, or insult her parents.

"My angel," the girl shrugged simply.

The beautiful woman gathered up the crying boy in her arms and sighed. That's what the small redheaded child at the table always answered. 'My angel,' or 'the girl with fire.' There was no evidence to suggest she even did it, so no one ever got punished.

Once Poppy and the other two caretakers left, the small redheaded child snapped her book shut and sighed. "Did you have to hurt him so badly?"

The younger invisible girl's laughter echoed off the walls. "It wasn't my fault, giovane. Ho bisogno di proteggerti. Tu sei così vicino ad essere in grado di vedere me. Basta imparare il mio nome(5)."

The nine year old sighed. "I wish you spoke English more."

No answer.

The gray and blue eyed girl looked at the book on the table with a contemplative look on her face. She knew she had to find the Guardian Angel's name, but what did_ 'A Guide to Greek Mytholog_y' have to do with anything?

**LOVE REVIEWS~!**

**Translations-**

**1: Your welcome**

**2: I am glad there weren't orphanages when I was alive. This is just annoying**

**3: young one**

**4: You might want to get a nurse**

**5: I need to protect you. You are so close to being able to see me. Just learn my name.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

**Okay, special thanks to everyone who reviewed~! I love you all!**

**Hmmmmm :/ I really don't know what else to say. Oh! This chapter is going to be about Kyle Lympha and Scrouge (^_^) :D they are both OC's~ **

**Set 2 Years Before Hekate Meets the Guardians**

**Disclaimers!**

The teen with sea green eyes scanned the forest area of California with a soft look on his face and both feet in the river. He appeared to be about eighteen or nineteen years old, and any girl would drool over him.

If they could see him, that is.

"Scrouge!" he called. His voice was strange, but not unpleasantly so. It sounded like every syllable came out of his mouth as smoothly as water slipped through a stream.

Not a moment later, the sun shone brightly and a figure appeared before the teenage boy. He had red, short-cropped hair with golden streaks, tan skin, and eyes as clear and blue as the sky itself. He appeared to be about nineteen or twenty years old.

The redheaded boy stood before the one with sea green eyes and flashed him an impossibly white smile. "What's up, bro?"

The younger boy tried not to snap at the other. Normally, he excelled at controlling his temper and chose to forgive and forget, but he needed to understand something. "I learned something interesting the other day." His spotless tennis shoes kicked lazily at the water by his feet.

The blue eyed boy before him raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "Oh?"

The green eyed boy nodded in confirmation.

"And what would that be, Lym?" the older boy questioned, using the younger one's nickname.

The brunet curled his hands into fists and his eyes hardened. "Nothing, really. It's just that Montana, Arizona, California, and Utah have miraculously had massive fires within three months. You know, trees burning down on snow-covered forests, towns burning down durning rainstorms - the usual."

Scrouge got a contemplative look on his face. Then something clicked and his blue eyes widened. "Wow, man. Chillax. There is no _way_ I was frying up little mortals for fun."

The brunet flicked his windswept hair off his forehead and narrowed his eyes. "If you didn't, who did? I've never heard of another spirit that controls heat."

The tan teen knit his eyebrows. "You're right . . . Hey, did you hear about the strange things going on in Ohio?"

The younger looking teen gave him a curious look. "Do tell."

The sun spirit pursed his lips and ran a hand through his multi-colored locks. "There's this girl that moves from orphanage to orphanage, because she always gets kicked out." He paused dramatically and the river spirit motioned for him to continue. "Well, she gets kicked out because some of the kids get weird burns on them that are always in the shape of a crescent moon and words get imprinted onto their arm. When people ask who did it, she says 'my Guardian Angel'. Weird, huh?"

The brunet gnawed on his bottom lip and nodded. "So you think there is a connection."

"Yup," the older teen said, popping the 'p'. "But there's another thing. The kids only get the burns if they're mean to this little girl. People that are even in the room say that it's like some invisible person was tracing the burn onto the kid."

Kyle's mouth flopped open. "You think it's a _spirit_?"

The older boy rolled his azure eyes. "Maybe. You think we should check it out?"

The brunet boy hummed thoughtfully. "Sounds plausible. We may find something concrete. But since you 'know all and see all', shouldn't you know who's behind these already?"

Scrouge flashed him a brilliant smile. "Glad to know you think so highly of me."

The brunet raised his eyebrows, but a small smile tugged at his lips and his sea green eyes sparkled with humor.

The sun spirit's smile suddenly switched to a frown. "Sorry, man. I've been watching her closely out of curiosity, but no one trails her. The kids stay away because they're afraid of her, and she just reads."

"Ooh, what books?"

The older teen raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You're asking me what book the kid read?"

The river spirit shrugged casually, but his eyes were a swirling mass of greens and blues, like the sea during a storm. "It could be vital to the search. We must cleanse whoever is doing these terrible deeds."

The sun spirit gave the younger one a deadpanned look. "Right, youngster."

The brunet gaped at the redhead in front of him. "I am _not_ a youngster! I am 206 years old!"

"And I'm 259. Face it, kid, you're young."

A strange look came onto the brunet's face. "If it is a spirit, do you think they're old . . . Like Pitch?"

The blue eyed boy knit his eyebrows. "The Nightmare King?"

The green eyed boy nodded in confirmation, the colors in his eyes swirling together. "Exactly, but then why would this mystery person protect a child?"

The sun spirit nodded slightly. "Good point. Damn -"

"Dang," the river spirit corrected immediately.

The sun spirit offered the teen a sheepish smile before continuing. "This is confusing. So a spirit that may or may not exist may or may not be protecting a kid, and may or may not be starting fires around the world for unknown reasons. Or both."

The young spirit hummed and stuck his thumbs in his front pockets, drumming the his other fingers on his thighs. "Any ideas?" Before Scrouge could open his mouth, the brunet added, "That doesn't involve brute force."

The red and golden haired teen closed his mouth with an audible snap.

The brunet looked at him through his half-lidded sea green eyes. "You need to find other ways to solve your problems. Violence doesn't solve anything."

Scrouge's eye twitched in irritation. "Right. Well, then what else can we do?"

The water swirled under Kyle and shot up, forming a seat. He calmly sat down in response. "No idea. Lets just see if any more strange occurrences happen."

The sun spirit sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Of course. We'll just sit down and hang out while a possible potential bad guy is on the loose. Brilliant."

"Any other ideas, Sunny Boy?" the brunet stretched his legs out and folded his arms.

The sun spirit was about to snap at the river guardian, when a horrible thought occurred to him. "Hey, man . . . It's not . . . _Teroare_, right?"

The color drained from the brunet's face and he sat up straighter. His ocean colored eyes darted around, as if looking for something that was hiding in the trees. "I hope not. Just keep a look-out, okay?"

Scrouge pursed his lips. He didn't like the idea of sitting back and doing nothing, but . . . "Yeah, sounds good." He stuffed his hands in his front pockets and rocked back on his heels and up on his toes. "Do you think there's a possibility that its a spirit we've never heard of before?"

A spark of hope lit up in his sea green eyes. "It certainly is possible. Doubtful, but possible. And if it is true, there's the question as to why they're hiding. Why not come out and make their presence known?" By the end of his rant, he was leaning forward in his water chair and gesturing wildly. The water behind him mimicked his agitated state and was flowing wildly.

"Calm down, man," Scrouge tried to reason, holding his hands in front of him.

The river spirit realized what he had been doing and flashed the teen in front of him a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I'm just so confused."

Scrouge grimaced. "You're not the only one. Should I get help on this case?"

Kyle but his bottom lip and nodded slowly. "Yes, I suppose. If you don't get anything by tomorrow, you can get Daniel Waters -"

"The sea spirit?"

"Is there another? Anyways, Daniel Waters, Jarek Acker -"

"What can that pansy do?"

The brunet raised his eyebrows. "Do you really want a repeat of what happened last time? Do you fancy being tied up by flowers or something?" Without letting his friend make a comment, he continued, "Madiline can help as well, then Autumn, and Sparky if we really need it."

Scrouge whistled. "Why so many?"

The younger immortal stood up, and with a snap of his fingers the chair melted back into the stream and joined the rushing water. "I'd like to get this over as quickly as possible."

The redhead nodded. "I can relate. Be back in a flash."

Kyle sighed and looked out over the landscape. He didn't know for a fact that the spirit they were after was evil, but he also didn't know if it was even a spirit. But if it was Teroare, then they were in trouble.

The river spirit ran a hand through his shaggy brown locks. "When did life get so complicated?"

**AAAAAAAAAANNNND cut!**

**Chapter Diciassette is done! **

**I love everyone who reviewed! Thank you so much! **


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

**Hey! I've got all the OC's I want now! . . . Maybe . . . Possibly . . . Most likely . . . No, just possibly . . .**

**I'll let you guys know if I need more!**

**Okay, bare with me on the super confusing time skips, kay? We're going back to where Hekate was with Paytel. **

**You guys need to read the before and after things, or else this will be confusing as inferno. **

**Disclaimers, of course! Do you know what? Screw it! Everyone knows there is no way I could possibly own Rise of the Guardians, and writing "Disclaimer" all the time gets really old. So, just so you know, I own OC's (like, two), the plot (sorta), and nothing else. Nada. Siltch. People give me their OC's and I don't own RotG (didn't we already go over this?)**

**To the story!**

**ChaoticReunion**

**HEKATE'S POV :D **

Have you ever gotten the feeling that something really bad was going to happen, but didn't know what? Like this weird, uneasy feeling that has you jumping whenever someone taps on your shoulder?

Join the club.

Of course, it _might_ have something to do with the creepy golden haired girl that is grinning like a mad woman across from me.

I took a few steps back for safety measures, because let's be honest here - nothing good can come from that look on her face. Seriously, that freaky grin could make the Cheshire Cat jealous. I'll probably have nightmares for weeks. Well, if I decide to sleep that is. Sleeping and eating for immortals is more like a past time - not an actual necessity.

No matter how much she was freaking me out, my pride would not allow me to apologize. What was wrong with swearing, anyways? Maybe if I scare her off, it will make her go away . . .

I set my hands on my hips and tried to look as dignified as one could when wearing a short, puffy blue dress, lacy socks, and bright red hair done up into gravity-defying pigtails. "_Just_ try something, I dare you."

The blond menace cocked an eyebrow and an amused smile played at her lips. "Oh, don't worry, I will."

"I've can fry you like an egg, Sparkles."

Her smile turned into a frown, and I got some sort of weird satisfaction out of it. It has been way too long since I've been in a good fight. "Okay, what do you mean you can fry me like an egg, and 'Sparkles'? Really?"

I looked at her get-up. "Have you seen yourself lately?"

She smirked and looked at me. "Have you?"

"Yup," I said, popping the 'p'. "Your hyperactive friend-" a jabbed a thumb in Stella's direction "-did this to me. Anyways . . ." I drew myself up to my full 5'5 height and was still a couple of inches shorter than her. _Dannazione_! I spread my hands out like I was about to make the most important announcement in the world. "I am the spirit of Fire, Home, Hearth, and Choices!" There was no way in _hell_ I was going to say Magic. If I got one more 'Oh, like the Greek goddess' comment, someone was gonna die.

Her jaw dropped and she was gaping like a fish. "F-fire?!"

I frowned slightly. Is that all she got out of my speech? "Um . . . Yeah."

"Like, burn down houses and forests kind of fire?"

I grinned proudly. "Aah, good times. I did that already."

She backed up slightly and looked at me in . . . fear? "Would that have been about two years ago?"

I eyed her strangely. _How would she know? _"Yes . . . Have you been stalking me?"

Madi started muttering to herself, completely ignoring me. She wrung her gloved hands. "Stupid rotten . . . It's been a kid the whole time . . . ? Scrouge is gonna be pissed . . . Kyle said they were dangerous . . . Should I knock her out . . . ?"

We all stood there awkwardly the whole time she was rambling. Stella shuffled on her feet and twisted a piece of her silver hair around her finger. Paytel was looking between me and the crazy woman (**cough** Madiline **cough**) and I went back to trying to fix my hair.

"Um, what's going on?" Paytel asked in her funny Inadian accent.

Mine is kind of strange, I guess. I mean, have you ever heard an Italian and English accent mixed together? I think it makes me unique!

"Yeah," the silver haired beauty known as Stella agreed timidly. "What are you - oh my gosh are you okay?!"

My body went rigid and I stood completely still with my hands at my sides and my eyes staring blankly in front of me.

An image clouded my vision.

_A small, eleven year old girl with long, silky red hair was being grabbed roughly by the arm by a middle-aged woman. Her wide blue and gray eyes were wide with fear._

My lips unconsciously curled into a snarl.

Emily was afraid and in trouble. Whoever was hurting her was going to get Hell.

'_Please, Guardian Angel,' _her soft voice whimpered, echoing in my thoughts. '_Save me . . . I'm scared.'_

I snapped out of my daze to see three immortal females staring worriedly at me.

"I've got to take care of something," I bit out, deathly calm.

They flinched. My voice sounded as dangerous and deadly as my favorite, pretty blue flames.

Without another word, I honed in on my little almost-believer and flashed out.

**xXx xXx xXx**

_Remember, I recited in my head, don't kill the silly little mortal. That will make the girl fear you. Breath in and out slowly, or count to ten. One, two, three, four -_

All rational thoughts went out the window when I saw the scene before me.

The woman I had seen earlier was there. She had a weird hair color between blond and lime green, almost like she bleached it. Her eyes were a dusty brown and she had tan skin. She - how do I put this nicely? - wasn't the, um, skinniest person in the world, but had a good layer of muscle on her arms. A dirty brown dress (I thought people stopped wearing things like that years ago?) adorned her strange figure and a burnt apron was tied tightly (or as tight as it could get) around her waist.

Basically she looked like something off of what teens call a "Horror Movie," I believe.

The strange woman (creature?) had a grip that was much too tight on a small child's arm.

The kid was undeniably pretty, but was obviously underfed. Her arms were thin and she had slightly sunken cheeks and light bags under her eyes. Her hair was held tightly in two ponytails on each side of her head while her bangs were swiped to the right side of her forehead. Her blue eyes with gray swirls in them looked fearful.

"Tell the truth!" the woman shrieked.

I growled. "Let. Il suo. Andare(1)."

Emily stiffened and her eyes grew wide - a clear sign that she heard me. Now she just needs to learn my name!

A second later she relaxed and her lips twitched upwards before keeping a straight face.

"_Well_, girl?!" that horrible woman screeched.

My body temperature rose, warming the room by at least five degrees. I don't know if the woman noticed it, but Emily did.

The small girl's eyes widened and she gasped.

"Why did you hurt Tommy?" the woman scowled.

Emily's eyes watered and her bottom lip trembled.

_Aw~! How cute! _

"I-I didn't do anything! He was mad at me because of what the other kids were saying about my Angel!"

I feel so proud! _I'm her angel! Who can resist a small child begging, anyways? _

"Liar!"

_Apparently she can . . ._

"N-n-no -!"

The woman raised her hand. Time slowed down. My legs tensed as my feet slid into a running position.

_No one hurts her._

I leapt foreword and lunged at the hag. Once my fingers hit her arm that was raised, pretty red designs spiraled up her forearm and created words. She howled in pain and dropped Emily, and clutched her injured right arm tightly. Not a half a second later I passed through her body like a ghost.

Not a pleasant feeling, but I was used to it by now. It felt like my whole body was hot and cold at the same time, and I was in the ground and flying.

I held my pointer finger up and it glowed like an ember in a fire.

"Ponte di Londra sta cadendo, cadendo, cadendo, il ponte di Londra sta cadendo giù, My fair lady(2)," I sang, lightly.

Emily visibly relaxed as I sang. One of the times we met, she told me I had a pretty voice. I don't know for sure, but I love singing. Thank MiM I'm not tone deaf!

**xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx**

**3RD PERSON POV **

**(WITH PAYTEL)**

Madiline's legs folded beneath her and her arms laid limply at her sides. Her two-colored eyes stared blankly in front of her. "This can't be true. What am I supposed to tell Scrouge and Kyle? We've been searching for _years_ and it turns out to be a _kid_. Great, just great. This is so what I need today."

"I _demand_ you tell me what is going on!" Paytel panicked. They had just lost the girl they were suppose to be watching!

"Where did Hekate go?" Stella sniffed, her eyes full of unsure tears. "She's so fragile and young. I'm worried!"

The spirit of Creativity looked up. "There is _no way_ in, well, anything, really that that girl is fragile."

The caramel colored rabbit glared at the spirit on the ground. "What do you mean? She is just a child."

The golden haired spirit pursed her lips and tugged on the top of her right glove.

"Well?" Paytel demanded.

Madiline's eyes suddenly lit up and she jumped to her feet. "SCROUGE!"

The Wishing Star and Paytel Cottontail gaped at their friend. Scrouge? He was about as famous as MiM! The sun spirit was like MiM's younger sibling. Younger by a few hundred years . . .

A bright flash of light illuminated the area and the pretty caramel colored rabbit and silver haired woman were left gaping.

A man about nineteen or twenty years old with a sun tan (oh, the irony) was standing five feet away. He had chiseled features and was pretty fit (not steroid crazy, though). His hair was red (not Hekate red, just normal) and had golden streaks through it. His eyes were azure and sparkled with humor.

"What's up, Mi?" he asked in a smooth voice.

While Paytel and Stella swooned, Madiline just stood there, unimpressed. "Fire. Two years ago."

Scrouge's smirk dropped and his eyebrows knit together in confusion. "What?"

Madiline stomped her foot in frustration. "When you stood on lookout for any suspicious behavior? The massive fires in four different states? A pissed off Kyle?"

Starting on the second to the last comment, Scrouge started to remember. "Oh! What about it?" He stuffed his hands in his pockets casually.

Madi pursed her lips, trying to come up with a way to explain this calmly so he wouldn't do anything rash. "We, um, had to watch this girl today -"

"Was she hot?"

The immortal girls' gave him a deadpanned look, starting to realize he wasn't exactly as amazing as they thought.

"Focus!" the golden haired woman snapped. "She's the one we've been looking for! She threatened to fry me like an egg!"

Scrouge took his hands out his pockets and scanned the area. "You sure?"

Madi nodded. "Positive."

"Well, where is she now?"

**Thanks for reviews! **

**Special thanks to:**

**DoveMusic**

**lillyabbey22**

**Translations-**

**1: Let. Her. Go**

**2: London's bridge is falling down,**

**Falling down, falling down,**

**London's bridge is falling down,**

**My fair lady**


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER 19!**

**Yay! I am now on Capitolo Diciannove! Thank you to all il mio fans! Special thanks to lillyabbey22 and DoveMusic!**

**SORRY IT'S SUCH A SHORT CHAPTER. THE NEXT WILL BE LONGER :D**

**Wow, this is going by quickly, ne?**

**Sorry for the late update! I fell in a biking accident and fractured my wrist and hand :)**

**Okay, this is the very last time I'm going to say this.**

**D.I.S.C.L.A.M.E.R.S.!**

**/ QUESTIONSANDNEWFINDINGS\\\**

**HEKATE'S POV**

I sang a random Italian song as I walked down the empty street. The humans were in bed, seeing as how it was the dead of night.

Bright colored houses were muted by the darkness, and the street lamps cast eery yellow light on the sidewalk. My black dress shoes made loud clicks as my feet hit the pavement. It was rather warm tonight for a human, which is why I was out. I needed time to think.

_Thank MiM no one is here to listen to me sing, I_ thought as I hummed the second half of the song.

It was rather ironic how mortals talk about fire. Depending on who it was, I could make it comforting or fearsome.

I was probably a state away from Emily now, but I knew she was safe. Last I left her, the woman had been lying on the floor in pain while she ate the bread and apples that I, um, borrowed.

A feeling of hope hit me like a freight train and I stumbled slightly. A girls voice sounded in my head.

'_Yay! Oh, I just love Snow Days. Jack Frost is always so generous. I can't believe Samantha doesn't believe in the Tooth Fairy anymore! I told her she was real, and she just rolled her eyes! She's becoming too girly lately. What to do, what to do? I can't loose my only friend . . . But in not giving up my beliefs either. Man in Moon, please help? Could you send someone so I know that they're not just fairy tales? I know Santa Clause, Sandman,and the Easter Bunny are real. I saw them a week ago with Jamie. Are there more out there that I don't know about? The Wishing star is real, and the spirit of Creativity, and the River spirit, and the Sun spirit, and the Summer and Fall spirits. Are there more? Is there a spirit of Fire and Hope? I could use hope right now . . .'_

I sighed. "I suppose . . ." I put a finger on my chin and tapped my foot. "Go back to Paytel, or help the girl? Paytel or girl? Paytel or -" I let my hand drop and started walking quickly. "Is that even a question?"

I closed my eyes but kept walking. I reached out with my mind, trying to find the girl I heard earlier. She was in Burgess. _What the hell!_

Of course! She lives in one of the coldest cities possible, I should have seen this coming!

A second later, I flashed over to where she was.

My firsts thoughts when I saw the room were:_ What the . . . ?_

It was neon green, but you could barely tell with all the things hanging onto the walls. Drawings (not bad, might I say) of snow, cottages, North, one that looked suspiciously like Stella, Jack, Tooth, Bunnymund, and was that Madi? There were even people who I'd never seen before.

The only wall that wasn't covered was the one across from her bed. It was a mirage of the forest outside, and it looked very realistic.

I looked around again, and that's when I saw her.

The girl had fair skin and chocolate colored hair in loose ringlets with two thin strips of hair pulled back in the front to keep the rest out of her face. Her eyes were a pretty amber with a few brown streaks in it. She wore faded blue jeans, a white hoodie, and sneakers in various shades of blue. She looked about twelve years old.

"What a strange child," I said to myself.

Her eyes grew wide and she whipped around to face me.

My eyes widened dramatically._ Did she hear me?_

She looked right past me and scanned her room. "Hello?" She was speaking gently, like she was afraid I was going to get scared away. "I know you're there. Is it a baby tooth again?"

"Um, can you hear me?" I asked awkwardly. The only human I've ever talked to was Emily.

"Yeah . . ." she muttered, scanning the room. "But it sounds like you are at the bottom of a well or something. Your voice is all echoey."

"I heard your plea for help," I told her, sitting on the oak table in the corner. "I am the spirit of Fire, Home, Hearth, and Choices. I influence your feelings to help you decided something. When you have to choose between one thing or another? I help. What college to go to? What to wear in the morning? What to buy at the store? All me."

A grin spread across the girl's face. "Wicked."

I smirked. "You're having a hard time deciding something, ne?"

That snapped her back to reality. "Oh, er, yeah."

"Spill."

She took a deep breath. "Well, I love to hear the stories about the Guardians -" I made a face "-and my friend Samantha said that I was being too childish and needed to grow up. She doesn't even want to dress up for Halloween anymore!"

I tsked. "Logan won't be happy about that."

Her brow knit together in confusion. "Who?"

I grinned. "You would probably know him better as Halloween."

Her eyes widened and darted around. "He's real?"

"Yup." I snapped my fingers. "Oi, kid, I'm on your dresser. Left side. There ya go."

"So what's your name?" She asked, looking, well, close to me this time.

My smile dropped. "I can't tell you. Look up Greek Mythology, though. That would be beneficial."

"Er . . . Okay?"

A flash of white outside her window drew my attention over there.

"What is your name, child?" I questioned.

A smile lit up her face and she straightened slightly. "Angelica. Angelica Anderson."

I crossed my ankles and swung my legs back and fourth. "Well, Angelica, have you met any spirits before?"

The grin on her face grew, but there was unsureness in her eyes. "Sometimes I see Jack Frost outside. By the lake in the woods."

My feet stopped. "Jack?" For reasons unknown to me, my face started warming and I knew I was literally glowing from embarrassment.

A dreamy look appeared on her face. "Yeah. The bringer of winter, spirit of joy, the -"

"ANNGELLICAAAAA!" a woman's voice screeched.

A strong sense of déjà vu hit me. Warm tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. Why did that seem so familiar?

"Coming, mum!" Angelica shouted. She grabbed her backpack and hastily slung it over her shoulder.

"A bit of advice," I said as she was about to walk out the door.

She froze. "Yeah?"

"Don't stop believing. The world needs more people like you, kid. And look up Greek Mythology!"

She smiled before bounding out of the room and down the stairs.

I sighed and walked over to the window, watching as Angelica piled into the car. The strange thing was, the wind seemed to be helping her. It wasn't blowing as strongly against her, and the snowflakes swerved around her.

"Well, isn't that interesting?" I muttered to myself.

A movement at the corner of my vision had me spinning around, looking for the intruder. Cold breath hit my neck and a chilling voice filled the room.

_"How interesting."_

I shivered. It was definitely a male voice, but didn't sound completely . . . Sane.

_"I see you've found my new play thing."_

I quickly spun on my heel and raised the opposite leg to kick whoever was behind me, but cold fingers caught my ankle and twisted, causing me to fall down.

_"Not bad,_" the voice mused. _"For a nobody. Why, even Jack Frost got more attention than you, didn't he? As well as the Wishing Star, Madiline, Paytel, Scrouge -"_

"Shut up!" I cut him off, getting into a defensive stance.

_"Kyle, Amelia Brand, the Guardians -"_

"Shut up! Just _shut up_!" I put my hands over my ears to block out the sound.

He laughed. _"Vey well. I just needed something from you. After all, you are quite literally hope, aren't you?"_

My vision faded to black.


	20. Chapter 20

**Next chapter! **

**Hehe, hello there! No, I did not drop off the face of the earth. I was visiting my grandparents in Italia, then my brother had an out-of-state basketball game . . .**

***Sobs dramatically* Apologies to lillyabbey22! I was like "Mm-hmm~... I'll be done on Sunday. It's SATURDAY, people! SATURDAY!**

**Thanks reviewers! You make me feel so warm and fuzzy inside~. Keep it up! **

**MWA HA HA HA DISCLAIMERS!**

**xXx LOSINGHOPE xXx**

Scrouge was doing the most impressive impersonation of a fish any of the immortals had ever seen. He had a noise similar to a strangled cat. "Y-you _lost_ her?"

Madiline scrunched her face up in thought. "No . . . Well . . . Yes. I mean - she just disappeared!"

The azure spirit sighed before his eyes lit up. His eyelids fluttered shut and he whispered under his breath, something that sounded like a prayer.

"What're you -"

Stella got cut off as a childish voice filled the air.

"Who summons me?"

A small girl about nine years old stood a few yards behind the spirit of the sun. She had straight black hair, one brown eye and one gray eye that shone like fire, and a raggedy old brown dress on and muddy boots.

"Amelia," Srouged breathed in relief. "You came."

Paytel's eyes widened. "Wow. Amelia as in Amelia _Brand_? The Little Match Girl?"

Amelia let a small smile grace her lips. "That is I."

Srouged did something that shocked them all.

He bowed.

The cocky, overconfident spirit bowed to a little homeless looking girl.

Not knowing what else to do, the others followed his example.

"Forgive me, my lady," Scrouge said. "But since you are the one who leads spirits to the next life, can you locate anyone?"

Amelia was full out grinning now. "Rise." They did as told. "And yes, I can locate almost anyone." Her small pink lips tugged into a soft frown. "Except those who try hard enough to hide themselves from me. Like Teroare, for example."

"E-excuse me," Madiline stammered in confusion. "But how old_ are_ you?"

A wistful smile graced the young girl's lips. "Ah. Nine hundred and forty three."

The girl's looked at the young child in front of them in disbelief. She was almost as old as the Man in Moon!

"Now," she continued, as if she said her age every day. "Who is it you wish to find?"

Scrouge gave Madiline a pointed look and she coughed sheepishly. "Um, you see, we kind of lost someone important . . ."

Amelia motioned for her to continue when she paused.

"And, um, her name is Hekate."

For a few seconds, no one said or moved. Amelia looked at the group in front of her with a shocked expression and she mimicked the dying cat noise Scrouge made earlier. "Hekate . . .?"

They nodded.

"The spirit of choices, fire, home, and hearth . . . ?" she continued in a whisper.

Another set of nods.

Amelia took a deep breath to calm herself._ "YOU LOST HOPE ITSELF?!"_

The spirits panicked.

"What!"

"No way!"

"How can she be hope?!"

"Bunnies!"

The spirits all started talking and arguing at once while Amelia tried to hone in on Hekate's spirit signal. Normally she would call it spiritual pressure, but ever since the humans came up with the strange anime show called Bleach, she couldn't call it that without someone remarking on it.

Her perfectly sculpted eyebrows knit together. Where was her spiritual signal?

"Hush now!" she snapped, immediately making the group fall into silence. "I cannot concentrate when you are bickering like children. Let me focus." She then sat Indian-style on the ground and took a deep breath, muttering a prayer to MiM for good measure. "Nothing," she said after some time.

Stella gasped in horror. "What if something terrible happened to her? What if -"

"Kyle!" Amelia called, cutting her off.

Everyone turned confused looks at the girl before them in confusion.

The sound of a rushing stream echoed throughout the area when suddenly another man appeared before them. He looked to be in about his late teens and had slightly shaggy brown hair and amazing ocean-like eyes. "Yes, milady?"

"What do you think about forgiveness?" the raven haired child asked.

Scrouge looked at her as if she was insane. Kyle was the spirit of forgiveness. His eyes narrowed in thought. Everything Amelia did had a purpose. _What was she hoping to accomplish?_

Kyle's ocean-colored eyes sparkled in thought. "It's-" he suddenly cut himself off and his face fell. "What's the point?"

Scrouge's mouth dropped open. "WHAT!"

Amelia pursed her lips. "It's as I feared. Someone has captured her. We need hope for creativity-," Madi gasped "-forgiveness, wishes, and fun."

"Shit," Scrouge summed up.

Amelia hummed in thought. "Indeed. We must gather the Guardians. Let us make way to North's Workshop." Her two-colored eyes turned to Paytel. "Erst thou still able to create tunnels as the Bunnymund?"

Paytel shuffled uncomfortably. "I-I think so . . ."

Amelia nodded in satisfaction. "Good. We must tell the others of our new discovery. If hope fails, we shall loose."

**(A/N: i thought about ending it here, but since I'm such a nice person I'll give you a sneak peak about what's happening to Hekate)**

Darkness loomed over the sleeping figure in the corner, dulling the magnificence of her cherry colored hair. Stella's wish had worn off hours ago and she now lay in her usual black attire. Her hazy smoky gray eyes opened and she scanned her surroundings with confusion. Where was she? She gasped and sat up. The voice. The shadows. Darkness.

An eerie laugh echoed throughout the dark space.

When the cherry haired girl attempted to move, she found her wrists and ankles shackled together in unpleasant dark chains. She made a face of displeasure.

They were cold. She hated cold.

"Who are you?" she demanded in a strong voice, betraying what she felt inside.

The voice laughed again. "I am known as Teroare. Pitch was the King of Nightmares, but I am literally darkness and fear. The weakling Pitch just happened to have the honor of harnessing some of my power. Just as you are literally hope but the Easter fool can use part of your Gift. But you don't need to tell me who you are. I already know." He stepped into where the most light in the dark space was and Hekate involuntarily gasped in fear. A cruel smile curled at his lips. "You are Hekate. You are literally choices, home, fire, and hope."

Hekate narrowed her smoky gray eyes bravely. "What do you want?"

He grinned and bent down so they were face-to-face.

She flinched back slightly, noticing the crazed glint in his eyes.

"I want to play a game. And I need you to help me."


	21. Chapter 21

**Muahahahaha! The next chapter!**

**Thank you reviewers :)**

**FYI this chapter is über short but I promise the next one will be longer because I will introduce all the characters ;P Until then, enjoy!**

**PWEEEEZE REVIEW!**

**NORTH'S WORKSHOP**

It was efficient to say our favorite (and only) Winter Spirit was confused. And curious. But mostly confused.

North had called a meeting for the Guardians and everyone seemed to be in a panic. Tooth was fluttering about the room, the lights reflecting off her multi-colored wings and giving them a magical look as she flew. North himself was having a very animated talk with Bunnymund where they were both wildly gesturing with their hands (or paws in Bunnymund's case. Depends on how you look at it) and trying to shout above each other. Even Sandy was awake, nervously looking around the room while symbols appeared in rapid-fire above his golden head.

Jack quickly fixed an easy smile on his face and strutted closer to the chaos. "Did I miss something?"

. . . . . Only to be ignored.

"Easter isn't _important_?!" Bunnymund demanded in an Australian accent. "Something is _wrong_, North!"

"What, then?" North yelled back. "I trust you, Bunny, but a few imperfect eggs isn't something we usually call a meeting for."

Bunnymund opened his mouth to reply, but before he could a small childish voice cut him off.

"Well isn't this interesting?"

Jack spun around and held his staff at ready, but instead of blocking a blow from an enemy, he came face-to-face with a small nine year old girl with black hair and two different colored eyes. Standing behind her was a boy a few years older than he was with bright orange hair that had golden streaks running through it and blue eyes, a slightly depressed looking boy about the same age as the other one with brown hair and eyes like the sea that constantly changed colors in hughes of blues and greens, a blond girl with a mask, gloves, and boots, a beautiful silver haired girl that was completely silver and white, and finally a bunny with caramel colored fur.

"Paytel?" Bunnymund squeaked almost nervously.

Said rabbit who had been identified as Paytel narrowed her eyes at Bunnymund into a frosty glare that even Hekate couldn't pull off. "Bunnymund?"

Jack resisted the urge to flinch at the sound of her voice.

"Now is not the time for this," the small nine year old snapped. "We have important matters to discuss with thee."

The Guardians turned their attention to the black haired child and their eyes widened and everyone except Jack bowed.

"Who are you?" Jack asked curiously, leaning on his staff.

The girl turned her eyes to the white haired spirit and he resisted the urge to fidget under her all-knowing look. "Rise, Guardians." She hummed thoughtfully as Jack heard shuffling behind him. "Jack Frost. Bringer of winter, 309 years old. Died saving his sister on a frozen lake." Jack's eyes widened in shock and the girl smirked, pulling out a match out of thin air and having the tip already lit. "I am Amelia Brand. The Little Match Girl, Sensor of Spirits, Guided into the Afterlife, and I also help Man in Moon choose his Guardians." Before anyone else could interrupt Amelia turned her gaze to North. "I believe Bunnymund has already told you something here is amiss?"

North shuffled uncomfortably while Bunnymund smirked triumphantly. They both nodded, North's being albeit more hesitant than Bunnymund's.

Amelia's small pink lips were etched into a soft frown. "This is no light matter, Bunnymund. Something has happened and if we fail this quest all hope will be lost. Quite literally."

Tooth frowned in confusion while Sandy had a golden question mark appear above his head.

"Hope is missing," the pretty silver haired girl said. "I believe you call her Hekate."

The blond rolled her eyes. "Way to be blunt, Stella."

A panicked look came onto Jack's face. "Hekate's missing?"

Amelia nodded. "I shall fill thee in later. For now we need help. North, call the spirits. All of them," she added in afterthought. Her eyes fluttered shut and a serene look came upon her face before her eyes snapped open. "We cannot do this alone. I know of a child that can help."

"Jamie?" Jack asked.

Amelia shook her head. "Her name is Angelica Anderson. She is a very special girl that we need if we are to succeed."


	22. Chapter 22

**Me: Author's Note! Sorry for the long wait . . . I tried uploading it and it didn't work. And the worst part? I deleted it after I updated it! Condannare questo computer stupido! Odio realmente questo! On other news, my beta has mysteriously disappeared off the face of the Earth**

**Hekate: Help! Psycho kidnapped me, remember?**

**Me: Yeah, but I'm too lazy to care right now**

**Madiline: Abigail Paine does not own Rise of the Guardians. **

**Me: Sort of depressing, if you think about it**

**Hekate: Onto the story!**

**o.O.o o.O.o o.O.o. o.O.o o.O.o **

To say Jack was astounded at the number of spirits there were would be a huge understatement.

They showed up one by one, in puffs of smoke, leaves, bright flashes, or just walked in.

Before any of them showed up the white haired immortal boy took time to analyze the spirits that were already there besides the obvious North, Tooth, Bunny, and Sandman.

A cute caramel colored rabbit that was about the same height as him was glaring daggers at Bunnymund with her black eyes, paws twitching every once in a while as if she wanted to hit or strangle the Guardian of Hope.

The small girl to her right was the one that Jack was wary of. Apparently her name was Amelia Brand, Guardian of Spirits and Desire, and one of the oldest beings alive. Her black hair hung limply on her shoulders, curling slightly at the ends. Her skin was fairly pale and she looked about nine years old. Her boots were dirty, as well as the worn dress she wore. Her eyes held power, though. Her left muddy gray eye shone with intelligence and her right eye shone like fire, holding incomprehensible power.

Jack was very uncomfortable with the red haired man. Maybe because he was the exact opposite of him, with red hair and tan skin. His eyes were blue, but unlike Jack's they were the color of the sky, not ice. He looked to be about nineteen or twenty years old and was currently flirting with a girl that looked highly annoyed.

Madiline Imbroglione was the Spirit of Creativity. She had golden blonde hair that fell into perfect curls down to her waist, lightly tanned skin, and one silver and one gold eye that were just visible from behind her glittery purple and green mask. A sequin covered purple shirt adorned her torso, green short shorts hung on her hips, and green knee length boots covered her feet. The one on her left was green while the one on the right was purple. Her gloves were the same as the boots and reached her elbows, only the colors were reversed with the green on the right and the purple on the left. A design of green and purple made up her swirled choker necklace.

The person watching Scrouge try and flirt with Madilline was named Kyle Lympha. He looked to be about the same age as the fiery red haired man, if not a little younger. He was the Guardian of Purity, Forgiveness, and a River Spirit. He was a bit lanky, but had a healthy tan. His eyes were sea green and constantly changed like a swirling river. Blondish chocolate hair fell across his eyebrows and his lean figure was leaning against a tree, watching the one-sided conversation with amused eyes as his friend tried and failed to get the pretty blonde's attention. A part of a blue tattoo could be seen on his neck while a cord with a aquamarine bead hung on his neck. He wore knee high khaki pants, a green t-shirt with the words LOSER in blue letters printed on it, a metal armband, and Camo sneakers.

A woman with silver, shimmering hair held up in an elegant bun watched everyone with wide, silver, doe-like eyes framed by thick black lashes. A silver princess gown adorned her figure, complete with glass slippers.

The first spirit to show up was a boy that looked to be about the same age as Scrouge. He appeared in a flurry of plants and a confused expression was etched onto his face. He had short, Paris-green hair that just barely brushed above his shoulders and deep Carmine colored eyes. He wore a jungle green long sleeved shirt and baggy white jeans.

_"North?"_ he asked in confusion, looking at the big man. "What's going on here? Why did _you_ call _me _down?"

Amelia stepped forward and his eyes widened upon seeing her small figure. "I believe I can answer that in due time, Jarek Acker, Spirit of the Earth. Please wait for the others to arrive."

Jarek nodded hastily and respectfully. "Of course, milady."

A puff of smoke alerted the spirits of another presence. More specifically, two. Logan a.k.a. Halloween stepped forward, a smirk on his face. He had orange spiked hair with purple tips, dark red eyes, light purple skin, and a lean figure. He wore a neon green and black short sleeved striped shirt, black pants, and black sneakers. The girl next to him was like his female counterpart, with purple spiked hair in a pixy cut with orange tips, bright red eyes with a slightly slanted pupil, pale skin that was a strange mixture between white, pale gray, and pale purple, but complemented her looks nicely. She had the same shirt as Logan, only it fitted her shapely figure and the stripes went in the opposite direction. A layered black and purple skirt went just above her knees, and neon green converse. Gauze was wrapped around her forearms and shins, and a sword hung at her waist. Her name was Vigilia d'Ognissanti.

Almost immediately after a puddle of water appeared, morphing into a nineteen year old boy and bringing the smell of the sea. He had blonde hair with orange highlights that was medium length and spiky, dark green eyes, and tan skin. He had a muscular American football player's build and wore cargo shorts and a white shirt.

In a flash of multi-colored lights the next appeared, shocking almost all when he revealed himself to be a fifteen year old boy with multi-colored hair, energetic silver eyes that caught the light in almost everything in the burrow, tan skin, and wore a white cutoff shirt, black cargo pants, red tennis shoes, and black sunglasses were casually shoves up onto his head. Sparky, the spirit of New Years.

POOF!

Everyone looked and their jaws almost dropped at the sight. Standing there were the strangest pair they'd ever seen. One was beautiful without equal, her blonde hair with the bottom half a chocolate brown shone in the light and swished gently halfway down her back, her green eyes had petals of purple, brown, and pink pealing throughout them, and her skin was lightly tanned. A sparkly pink tank top clung to her, showing off her shapely figure, while a mini dark jean skirt sat on her hips. She wore silver sandals on her feet and she was batting her thick black lashes at everyone in the vicinity. The girl next to her was ugly without comparison. Her blackish brown hair was stringy and cut into a sloppy A-cut, her muddy copper eyes were flat pools of plain color, her skin was an unhealthy pale with a mole on the base of her neck, and her limbs were stringy. She wore fancy jeans, plain sneakers, and a blue t-shirt. Their names were Mensonges and Vérité. Lies and Truth.

Many more appeared after that.

In a fall of Autumn leaves a beautiful Chinese woman appeared, kimono and all. In a swirl of wind a young fourteen year old black haired and pale boy appeared, giving off the appearance of a vampire. With a battle cry a seventeen year old girl appeared with a smirk on her pretty ivory skinned face. A girl with messy long black hair and a staff just like Jack's only black strolled in calmly. After her another girl appeared, looking about fifteen. Her hair was fiery red and had gold, silver, red, and blue streaks through it. Her eyes were bright red and had silver patterns through them. Another girl appeared that looked Greek. Her name was Atlanta and she had long curly black hair held up in a ponytail, olive skin and dark eyes. A loose silver tunic hung on her torso, faded jeans covered her legs, and she wore brown leather boots and a jacket. After that there was Sweet Tooth, Lavette Crealis, Chelsea "Chelly" Erin Clark, Elizabeth Hart (Guardian of Love), May Muerte, Chester, and Samson Ghrianstad.

Jack's eyes were wide as he observed everyone before him. Everyone was talking at once, demanding to know why they were there, playing pranks, yelling, screaming, clawing, and . . . applying makeup?

_"QUIIIIIIEEEEET!"_

Amelia's voice echoed off the walls in the Burrow, effectively silencing everyone.

The Spirit of Joy blinked in surprise as the small girl smiled as if she wasn't ferociously yelling at everyone a second ago.

"Now," she said calmly, loosely clasping her hands in front of her. "I'm sure you all wish to know why you are here." As they all started talking again, the small girl simply raised her hand and they all quieted. "The matter is _not_ to be taken lightly. Hope has been kidnapped."

There was a split second of silence before everyone broke out into panicked yells again, minus a select few.

"_I_ don't see what the big deal is," the pretty blonde and brown haired girl in a pink tank top said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Lies, _shut up_," Madiline hissed.

The beautiful girl bristled. "My name is _Mensonges, not Lies_."

Madiline rolled her eyes in response and crossed her arms over her chest. "Whatever."

"Actually," the ugly woman next to Mensonges said. "_Mensonges_ means Lies in French. And we _are _French. Only you're the only one with an accent."

"Ah," Scrouge sighed dramatically. "The ugly Truth."

Both enraged females turned on Scrouge. _"Shut up!"_ they yelled in sinc. before glaring at eachother and turning away in a huff.

"Liar."

"Ugly."

"Pansy."

"Voodoo doll."

_"Plastic."_

"Oh no, you did _not_ just call me that!" Mensonges raged.

Vérité shrugged uncaringly. "I believe I did. Although _I'm_ the one who doesn't lie, unlike_ you_, Plastic."

"Bitch!" Mensonges snapped.

Truth blinked in confusion. "I believe that I am not a female dog."

Mensonges rolled her eyes. "Idiot."

"I'm actually quite smart."

"Will you two nock it off?" the Chinese woman asked.

Mensonges sneered. "Stay out of our business, Clown Freak."

_"What_ did you just call me?"

"SHUT UP!" Madiline yelled, gaining the attention of the spirits who were watching the girls argue like a reality TV show. Madiline nodded slightly to Amelia, signaling her to talk.

Amelia had an uncharacteristic scowl on her face. "_Fools._ Hope is _missing_ and you all are arguing like children." Some immortals had the decency to look sheepish, except Lies who sniffed in frustration and put her chin into the air. "Do you _not understand_ what this _means_?!" she demanded. Upon seeing their sheepish and confused looks, her eyes widened and she let out a humorless chuckle. "You really don't. You _really don't_." After a pause she continued. "If Hope is lost, injured, or killed, we shall have no purpose."

Shrieks of fright and yells were the immediate response.

"What do you mean?" Chelsea asked in shock.

Elizabeth folded her arms and narrowed her bright pink eyes. "She means we'll loose hope. We won't want to do anything anymore."

People looked at the girl like they were seeing her for the first time. She was quiet, but her looks should have made her stand out. She had layered bubble gum pink hair pulled into a high ponytail, but when let down it went about an inch past her shoulder blades. Her bangs were layered as well and started at the right side of her forehead, gradually cutting down to end at the middle of her left ear. Her skin was pale but pretty, she had full pink lips, black eyelashes, pink eye shadow, and pink cat like eyes.

"What?" she asked defensively. "I'm the Guardian of Love, Lust, and Beauty. I'm not stupid."

Amelia smiled slightly. "Very good, Elizabeth. Now we need a plan of action. Any suggestions?"

The small, vampire-like boy raised his hand. A bandage went around his head and covered his left eye, the other being bright red. He wore black clothes and practically melted into the shadows.

"Yes?" Amelia asked, nodding at him. "Koji(1), speak."

"Where is Hope?" he asked, his voice just above a whisper but everyone heard him clearly.

"Shit to fu—"

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" a psychotic voice sang.

Hekate panted, running down the tunnels to MiM-knows-where. Playing Hide and Seek tag with a psychotic spirit was not on her list of top ten things to do for today. She didn't know what would happen if she got caught, but she had a pretty good guess, judging by the stakes he had been holding earlier. Being the Spirit of Choices, she had a better guess as to where to run, and could influence him if he caught her.

"Condannare questo tutto. 'È bel Hekate. Lei avrà molto divertimento'. Il divertimento il mio asino. Il prossimo tempo vedo Jack l'assassinerò," she grumbled. _("Damn this all. 'It's fine Hekate. You'll have lots of fun.' Fun my ass. Next time I see Jack I'm going to murder him.") _She paused by a curve in the hall, pressing her back against the cold wall. "Oh, si. Quel ragazzo ha un desiderio di morte." _("Oh, yeah. That boy has a death wish.")_

**Side notes:**

**1: Koji means Who in Serbian **

**Me: So~ did you guys like the translation better?**

**Hekate: Wow, it's a lot shorter than last time**

**Me: Shut up, you. I'm too lazy to write the whole thing again. It's the computer's stupid fault for malfunctioning**

**Hekate: You can vote on pairings for Jack! You can pair him with me *strikes pose* or with another OC in here**

**Me: REVIEW, peoples! I like to know how I did! I hate when people just click on it and then don't put anything. I don't care if you put "Yay!" Just put SOMETHING!**

**Hekate: Bye!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

**Me: *sulks in emo corner***

**Elizabeth Hart: What's wrong with her?**

**Madiline: I don't think anyone really knows.**

**Atlanta: She forgot someone's OC and she is positive she put it in there last time.**

**Hekate: Aren't we missing something? **

**Madiline & Atlanta: ?**

**Elizabeth Hart: She means the poll for who Jack should be paired with.**

**Madiline & Atlanta: Ooooooh . . .**

**Hekate: Here it is!:**

**Madiline Imbroglione**

**Atlanta (Yes. She is THE kick-ass Atlanta from Greece that whooped guys' butts)**

**Elizabeth Hart**

**Hekate (Should she and Jack just stay friends?)**

**Amanda Smith! **

**Madiline: Who?**

**Amanda: ME! The sulking authoress forgot to add me into her story!**

Madiline: OOOH ….

**Elizabeth: YAY! Well . . . Jack is pretty sexy . . . **

**Hekate: I'm going to pretrend you did not just say that.**

**Elizabeth: What? Do you not remember my titles? Love, Lust, and Beauty. Oh, and I'm even prettier than Lies, just an FYI because we seemed to have gone over how pretty she was but I AM beauty. MWAHAHAHA!**

**Hekate: …**

**Madiline: ….**

**Atlanta: Okay...? **

**Me: On a side note, you guys can vote on other pairings. Not just Jack's love life. You have until the First of March to decide *goes back to sulking in the corner***

**Hekate: Yes! Please vote on things! People's love lives, friendships, and things like that! PLEASE! The authoress has hit a bump in the road that is small but she is too lazy to go around it! Vote on people's lives! Yes, you CAN vote on your own character's life. If you really hate the character and want them to die, let her know!**

**Atlanta: Whaaa?**

**Madiline: Say what?!**

**Hekate: BYE!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey guys it me lillyabbey22. I'll be filling in for Ab's while she's busy out and about, taking a well earned break. **

**My first few chapters might be a tad short and I apologize, but I'll work on making a longer chapter during the weekends.**

**Disclaimers!**

**I don't own Rise of the Guardians, but you probably already guessed that.**

**I may write differently, and not as well as Ab but I hope you all still enjoy~**

**o.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.o**

"Oh don't hide Pocnitoare."_ (Firecracker.) _The crazy voice of her captor sang out, his eerie sound in his voice echoing throughout the halls.

The hairs on the back of Hekate's neck stood on end as a chill climbed up her back.

_ Now why would I go and do something like that?_ she thought sarcastically.

"I don't bite." His chilling voice came from right behind her, causing her to slightly jump away from the wall in shock.

He wasn't there but she wasn't going to take any chances, so she started running once again.

Down through the corridors and halls that seemed like a never ending maze. Everything was dark, and there seemed to be noway out, as far as she knew. Her footsteps echoed clearly off the cavern walls.

"Don't run, flacara mica." _(Little Flame)_ his voice came from the end of the hall behind her.

She knew she shouldn't have turned around, but something drew her eyes behind her for a split second, and when she turned around her path was blocked by a silhouette with glowing purple eyes. She gasped in surprise and stumbled back.

"Please, do stay, I'm sure you'd rather giving up now then...option number two." His voice said a tad more reasonable than before.

Hekate was to out of breath to even ask what 'option two' was but she knew she didn't want to find out, nor stay with this insane spirit.

She bolted down the right hall in the fork, which he hadn't blocked completely, and dashed as quickly as she could hoping to find a way out.

The silhouette stayed behind, emitting a low sigh. "She's much to persistent in leaving..." His voice came from the shadow that somewhat solidified to his normal state, though he still stayed well hidden in the shadows. "Nuante, du-te." _(Shades, go.)_ He called out quietly, though the ruckus that rang throughout the halls was defiantly not quiet.

Howling and claws hitting the stone floor was all Hekate could hear through every new hall and a rush of panic hit her, making her adrenaline spike.

As well as the shadows moved, and stirred unnaturally out of the corner of her eyes. _'Perché questo pazzo mi vuole!?' (Why does this maniac_ _want me!?)_ was just about all Hekate could think of other than trying to find a way out.

She thought she was getting closer to finding a way out, when she took a right turn and: dead end.

It was just about the fifth one since she'd started running and this time there was more at stake.

Mostly because she had some sort of shadow creatures chasing after her now.

She panted as she was about to start searching for, maybe, a secret passage way or such hidden. She just wanted to find a way out at this point.

Hekate heard a cluster of snarls and loud, aggressive barks coming from behind. She took a deep breath and slowly turned around to face around four or five, massive, shadow-like creatures with the same eerie glowing purple eyes as Teroare, and had the form of wolves. One barred its teeth at her as it snarled, showing off fangs like blades of pure ivory. Others followed along, as well as continued advancing at her, making her retreat closer and closer to the wall.

"Option two was enormous shadow wolves... semplicemente fantastico." _(Just great.)_ she remarked somewhat sarcastically before finally hitting the back wall.

**o.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.o**

**I know it's short, I apologize again, and I left you on a cliffhanger, but I'll try and write a longer chapter tomorrow.**


	25. Chapter 25

Hello, all~! I have some important news~!

Okay, first of all, do not come at me with pitchforks and torches for what I'm about to say.

I AM DISCONTINUING THIS STORY!

Eep! Lemme explain! After I went to Italy for like a month, I came back and totally lost the will to write this story.

Hehe, my bad. ^^"

THIS THINGY IS UP FOR ADOPTION FOR WHOEVER WANTS IT!

On the meantime, I will continue with my PJO stories


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